Escaping Yesterday
by The Prettiest Frog in the Pond
Summary: .AU. For some, the past is more important than for others. Envy, Ed and Al Elric know this better than most- but the past isn’t what it seems, and not everything is black and white. When a figure from long ago returns, the only option left is to run...
1. The Three Elrics

_Okay, the other day fma.angle pointed out to me that I have never written anything longer than a oneshot. Obviously, this meant that I had to go and write this- my first ever multi-chapter fic. And it's AU. Aren't you all proud of me? Um. Anyway. Updates will be sporadic, but not infrequent.  
_

_**Warning:** Like I said, it's Alternate Universe. This means some characters will be, well, out of character. I've tried to keep everyone fairly true to their personalities on the show, but obviously, they're not exactly the same. They've lived different lives, and will be slightly different because of it. Next, there are no pairings. Sorry. Finally, there will be bad language, including but not restricted to the f-word. And they won't be censored like that one was._

_**Disclaimer: **I own nothing._

**Chapter One- The Three Elrics**

Envy scowled threateningly at his alarm clock, and reached over to turn off the loud wailing sound. With a grunt, he got out of the bed and changed from his nightclothes to his usual black halter-neck crop top and skort. A strange choice of clothing for a boy, perhaps, but Envy liked it. And god help whoever tried to make him stop wearing it- Envy got violent very quickly. And usually very painfully, too, for whoever was on the receiving end.

"Pipsqueak! Al! Get up! If you're late, you're not blaming me!"

The response to this was an incoherent growl from Ed's room and a cheery "Good morning, Envy!" from Al's. Envy muttered darkly.

He made his way to the small kitchen, pulling the breadbin out of the cupboard and grabbing a few slices for toast. He dug some eggs out of the fridge, making a mental note to buy more, and began to fry them.

Several minutes passed before Alphonse entered the kitchen. Envy sourly pushed a plate of eggs towards the younger boy, and began to butter his toast.

"Where's Edward?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he heard a muffled curse from Ed's room.

Al looked worried. "Ah... I think he might be having some trouble this morning. With the..." he trailed off. Envy nodded.

"Hey, pipsqueak! You alright?"

He could hear Ed's yell of incoherent rage perfectly. He snickered.

"Pipsqueak's fine." he said loudly, grinning wickedly. "He's just a little _short_ of time."

There was another loud yell, but this one was clearer. "_Who're you calling so small he could use DNA as a ladder?!"_ came Edward's furious voice. Envy just smirked.

"You, pipsqueak." he said, enjoying baiting the younger boy. He might have to look after the two of them, but that didn't mean he had to _like_ them- and he didn't. Well, not much, anyway.

Ed finally arrived in the kitchen, deftly manoeuvring his wheelchair through the narrow doorway, and then reaching into the cupboard for a cereal box with his remaining hand. As he passed Envy, he kicked viciously at the older boy's shin, and Envy tried not to hiss in pain- _that_ would leave a bruise.

"Not short." Ed grunted, obviously still sleepy.

Al sighed, and reached over to braid Ed's hair for him, since he could no longer do it himself.

"Keep telling yourself that, Pipsqueak. Come on- you two're gonna be late." he said, grabbing a backpack from the counter and chucking it at Ed, whose hair was now braided and neat. Al sighed at the behaviour of his volatile older brothers, and followed the pair out of the house.

They attracted plenty of attention from those who didn't know them. While Al might have seemed perfectly normal, the same could not be said of his brothers. Envy was dressed in skimpy clothes most commonly seen on girls, and had waist-length dyed green hair that had been styled into long spikes. Ed was missing two limbs, and, well, frankly, he was _short_. Even in the wheelchair, it was easy to see that the blonde-haired boy was small for his age.

Envy left them at the school gate, frowning slightly as he watched them go. A woman coughed loudly behind him to attract his attention.

"Ah- excuse me- you seem a little young to have children...?" left unspoken was the silent accusation that Envy, with his green hair and mini-skort, was not a suitable guardian for the two boys- especially not when one of them was disabled. Envy almost laughed at what Ed's reaction would've been if he thought anybody was pitying him for his missing limbs. The younger boy might've been maddening, but he was an _endless_ source of amusement.

"They're my half-brothers. And they're annoying brats, too..." he said. She looked slightly shocked when he said 'annoying brats' but he pushed past her before she could say anything. He wasn't in the mood to deal with idiots today.

Envy scowled as he wandered down the street, thinking back. He submersed himself in his memories- going back past Trisha's death, back before the bastard had left them, even before 'The Accident' as it was referred to by both of the younger Elrics.

Edward had had all of his limbs, back then, and Envy had hated him. He hadn't liked Alphonse much, either- but it was _definitely_ Ed he had hated more.

He remembered one incident- it had been Ed's birthday, and Envy was not happy. He'd been called William back then- back before he decided that he'd had enough of 'William' and became Envy.

Edward had been three, maybe four, opening presents like there was no tomorrow, and crowing happily with every unwrapped parcel. William had watched with growing dislike until he stalked over and pushed Edward violently down to the floor, before stomping off to his room.

He remembered Alphonse's cry of "Brother!"- a habit the boy had never really gotten out of. He used to call Envy brother too, but when he was five Envy had turned to him and said; "Look, you brat, just stop calling me brother, all right?"

Alphonse had been upset, and Edward had angrily and violently insisted that he stop being mean to Al- Ed always was overprotective of his younger brother. Even _after_ losing his limbs, he still stood up to anybody who so much as looked at Alphonse funny.

Envy found it rather amusing actually- most people assumed that Edward in his wheelchair would be the meeker of the brothers, a pushover- but most people had never seen Edward run over three bullies and successfully knock one of them out. Oh yes, Edward was definitely the more volatile of his half-brothers, wheelchair or no.

He surfaced from his thoughts, and discovered that he had brought himself to the church. He paled slightly and turned away- the memories of a funeral fresh in his mind.

"It's coming up to the anniversary," he muttered. "The brats will probably want to come here for that." He sounded annoyed, but really, he didn't mind much. He would not begrudge his half-brothers a visit to their mother, no matter how much he himself wanted to forget.

_So, what do you think? I'm not sure why I chose to do an AU, but I've always rather enjoyed reading them, and this idea struck me, so... here you go. Review, please!_


	2. Grave of the Mother

_I don't own FMA. _

**Chapter Two: Grave of the Mother**

That morning, there were no outraged protests from Edward's room, and no bright, cheery good morning from Alphonse's. Even Envy was subdued- today was not the day for short insults.

Edward stared at his ceiling for a moment, before rolling onto his side and using his arm to push himself into a sitting position. He reached over to the set of drawers beside his bed and pulled out his clothes, changing from his pyjamas to a red t-shirt with an odd symbol on the back- a snake winding around a cross- and a pair of jeans, with one leg carefully cut shorter than the other and stitched up.

Once dressed, he hoisted himself upright, balancing unsteadily on his one leg, and dropped himself into his wheelchair. Settling himself more comfortably, he reached for the controls on the armrest and guided the chair into the kitchen, where Alphonse was sombrely picking at his food.

Once breakfast was finished, the three boys made their way out of the house and down the road. They stopped briefly at a run-down florist, and bought the least wilted bunch of flowers they could find, before heading down an alleyway beside a corner shop. They passed the school and went further down the street towards a small, ivy-covered church and an overgrown graveyard, alive with wildflowers, in stark contrast to the gloomy nature of the place.

Envy stood back at the gate to let the two boys pay their respects in private- she had been their mother, not his. Still, when Edward and Alphonse stood and made their way back out of the churchyard, he went and looked at the grave for a moment.

It was less overgrown than some of the older ones, as it had only been a year since her death. Resting on the soil were the flowers they'd bought-bright, vibrant gerberas. Trisha would've liked them, he mused.

He studied the white marble headstone, reading the words carved into the stone:

**Trisha Maria Elric**

**Beloved mother and dear sister**

**Taken from us too soon**

And below that, the date of her birth and death- a lifespan depicted in a few simple numbers. Envy stood at the graveside for a moment, before speaking aloud.

"Trisha- I guess I should say thanks. I mean, you're the only one of my parents who actually _wanted_ to stick around." he said quietly. He stayed there for a few moments, looking down at the final resting place of the woman his father had married, and then left the grave and walked home, his two half-brothers dallying behind him.

It was a Saturday, but none of them planned on going out. Since Hoenheim- the bastard- had run off on them, Trisha had been the only parent they had, never mind that Envy wasn't actually related to her at all. But then she had fallen ill, and everything had gone downhill from there. It would have seemed wrong, somehow, to go out on the anniversary of her death.

Envy sighed as he noticed Ed glaring venomously at a photograph- it showed a young Envy, back when his hair was blond and unspiked, standing beside Hoenheim and Trisha, who held Ed in her arms. He knew what Ed was glaring at- Ed had always blamed his father for his mother's death, convinced she had died of a broken heart.

Alphonse was the only one of the brothers who still hoped Hoenheim would come back. It was one of the few things Edward and Envy agreed on- neither boy had any desire to see Hoenheim ever again. And if they did, they were both firmly in agreement that they'd punch his lights out if they could.

Envy considered attempting to start a conversation, but decided against it. Edward would just get angry and defensive to anything he said, and even the normally cheerful Alphonse wouldn't appreciate chatter today. Envy sighed.

Once upon a time, he wouldn't have cared if either of the younger boys was upset. But after Trisha's death- well, they had all grown up a bit then. Envy, who had hated his younger brothers, had realised that they needed somebody- and he was the only one left. He had reluctantly granted his step-mother's last wish and taken care of her sons for her- his own parents had abandoned him; both mother and father, and Envy didn't plan on doing that to the younger Elrics, no metter how annoying he thought they were.


	3. First Born Son

_I own nothing. Just so you know, this and the next few chapters are set in the past- not so much flashbacks, as chapters set before the story officially begins. Also, this Dante does not look like Lyra, because Lyra and Dante are two different people. She also doesn't look like Izumi Curtis' teacher, because again, that wasn't the real Dante and also she was too old for this story. Instead, if you watch one of the later episodes, there is a flashback sequence showing when Hoenheim made the Philosopher's stone, and in it, you see Dante's original body-not very clearly, I admit, because of the dramatic shadows all over the place, but still. That is what this Dante looks like. You can find a picture on wikipedia, I think. And just so you know- Envy's birth name is not Envy, because, well, how many people do you know would name their child Envy?_

**Chapter Three: First-born Son**

**_Twenty years ago:_**

It was a warm evening, and on the horizon the dark sky was still lit deep orange by the setting sun. The moon was full and bloated overhead, and a few stars glittered. The street lamps glowed a sulphurous orange and the windows of the suburban semi-detached houses were bright with electrical yellow light.

On the doorstep of one of the houses stood a young woman. She had dark brown hair, curled elegantly around her face, with a straight fringe. Her eyes were an odd purple colour, and she was beautiful- but the expression on her face was angry and cold. In her arms was a boy of around one year old, with wispy golden-blonde hair and wide purple eyes like his mother's. The woman rapped sharply on the door.

After a few minutes, a tall man with glasses and long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail opened the door. He had a rather scholarly look about him, and he looked rather shocked to see the woman on his doorstep.

"Dante?" he said. "And... a baby? Dante, what...?"

The woman scowled. "This baby is your _son_, Hoenheim. His name is William Daniel Elric."

"My son? Dante, I left you over a year ago... you were _pregnant?_ Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know. Hoenheim... please. You can't abandon me. I'm the mother of your child!"

Hoenheim sighed.

"You'd better come in, Dante."

A few minutes later, the two adults were sat on the couch. William was asleep in a makeshift cot constructed from a drawer and some pillows.

"Dante, we've talked about this. I don't think we work very well together. You're possessive, and bad-tempered, and, at times, even _violent_, Dante. I am not going to start going out with you again just because you have a child."

"Hoenheim, you cannot abandon me! I cannot take care of a _baby_ on my own!"

"I don't think you could take care of a baby with me, either. To be frank, I doubt you'd make a very good mother." he said, coldly.

"What do you mean?" Dante asked, eyes flashing with anger.

"Dante, you associate with gang members. I strongly suspect that you _are_ a gang member. You are involved with violent people- occasionally even with _criminals_, Dante. Don't think I didn't know."

Dante sat silently for a moment.

"Well, what do you plan to do, then? You're going to leave such an _irresponsible_ person to look after your son?"

"No."

Dante scowled. She had been expecting him to take her back again, to apologise. Maybe even ask her to marry him. He was _hers_, damnit! She was _not_ going to lose him.

"Oh? So what are you going to do? Come on, Hoenheim... I thought you loved me." she said in a low, seductive whisper, almost pouting. "That's what you said, wasn't it? Wasn't that what you whispered to me all those months ago?"

"No, Dante. I don't love you, and I never have. As for our son... I certainly don't trust you to raise him. He will stay with me. We can sort it out with social services- I'm sure they'll have no problems."

"But Hoenheim-"

"_No_, Dante. Now kindly leave my home."

Dante stood up and glared at him coldly. She made her way over to the makeshift cot, but Hoenheim shook his head.

"I said I would take care of William. You can bring his things over tomorrow, if you like, or I can buy him new clothes, and so on. But William is staying here. He deserves better than you, Dante."

She opened her mouth, as if considering protesting- but then shut it again. "Fine," she said. "He's your problem now. Goodbye, Hoenheim."

Dante left, and Hoenheim carefully locked the door behind her. Once she was gone, he crouched down beside the makeshift cot, looking down at the blonde-haired child within.

"Hello, William." he said softly. And then he stood, and reached for the phone.

"Eve? I'm sorry to call you so late. I don't suppose you could lend me one of your girls' travel cots for the night, could you? And some baby milk... It seems I have a son I never knew about..."


	4. Love and Life

_Finished this earlier than expected. It helps that a) this chapter was fun to write, b) I'm not currently at school so I have too much spare time on my hands and c) I'm a pretty fast writer anyway and already have the plot mapped out._

_So. Chapter four. Enter Trisha and Edward._

_I own nothing._

**Chapter Four: Love and Life**

**_Sixteen years ago_**

Five-year old William Elric scowled at the brown-haired woman sat opposite his Daddy. Her name was Trisha, and Daddy had married her last year. William had not been very happy.

Trisha was by all means a very nice woman. She was kind, with a lovely smile, and she had never once been mean like Daddy's other girlfriends. But William didn't want Daddy to have a girlfriend, or a wife. He'd been happy living with just Daddy and he didn't want anybody else.

He especially did not want Trisha- because a few days ago, Trisha had brought another new person into the house. The other new person was small and pink and loud, with a few straggly blonde hairs. Daddy said he was called Edward and that he was William's little brother. William was not impressed.

William remembered when his Daddy had first met Trisha, but not very well. All he could recall was a lady with a kind smile chatting to his Daddy and bending over his pram to talk to him. He could remember the wedding much clearer- he had had to wear a strange suit and carry two rings on a pillow, and they had gone to the church and Trisha had walked down the aisle in a long white dress with another lady walking behind her who looked just like her. Trisha had said that the other lady was her twin sister, Aunty Juliette, and that she was being a bridesmaid. She said that what was happening was called a wedding, and it was a way for grown-ups to show each together that they loved each other and wanted to stay with each other for a very long time.

William thought it was stupid and boring, but there had been a big party afterwards and everybody had said he was clever, so it hadn't been _so_ bad.

A while after the wedding, Trisha had started to get fat. Daddy said she was pregnant, which meant she was going to have a baby. William thought that this was stupid, and that having a baby was a silly reason to get fat. Daddy had laughed at that, and said that the reason Trisha was getting fat was because the baby was inside her, and soon, it would come out. William had thought this was even sillier.

Eventually she had gone to the hospital, and when she had come home, she had brought Edward with her- screaming, ugly Edward, with stubby arms and legs and a bright red face. Daddy laughed when he said that, and told him that when Edward got older, he'd probably look a lot like William.

William didn't want Edward to look like him. He wanted Edward to _go away_, and Trisha too, so that he could have his Daddy to himself again. He didn't actually remember having his Daddy to himself all that well, because he'd been small- but he knew that he had liked it more than he liked Trisha.

Trisha paid more attention to Edward than she did to him- even _Daddy_ paid more attention to Edward. It wasn't fair. William was there _first._

Daddy had told him that babies came when a lady and a man did something grown-ups do when they are very special to one another, and that before he met Trisha, he had known another lady who was very special to him and that that lady had given birth to William like Trisha gave birth to Edward. Then Daddy had explained that that lady hadn't been able to look after him, so William had come to live with Daddy instead.

William asked if that meant Trisha was going to go away and leave Edward here, but Daddy had just laughed and said that things were a little bit different with Trisha.

That night, William waited until Daddy and Trisha were asleep, and he snuck into Edward's room. He pulled the chair from the corner over to the cot and climbed onto it to look in. Edward snuffled a little in his sleep, wriggling slightly, his tiny, chubby limbs moving, his wispy golden hair, already rather long, resting on the pillow.

When he was asleep he looked changed- nicer. Normally when he was awake, Edward's face was all screwed up and pink, and he made that horrible loud wailing noise. Now that he was asleep he was different- his face looked round and plump and smooth, and he wasn't quite so pink, and he didn't make that awful crying noise that gave William a headache.

William reached out, and placed a small hand on Edward's head, gently stroking the golden-blonde hair. Daddy had told him that when you touched Edward, you had to be very gentle, because he was so small he could easily get hurt, and that if Edward got hurt, then Daddy would be very cross, and Trisha would be very upset. William was always very careful not to hurt Edward, even if he didn't like him very much. He didn't want Daddy to get cross.

"Hello Edward," he said, very softly, because Trisha said that when Edward was asleep you had to be quiet. "You're ugly when you're awake. You... you aren't when you sleep, though."

He withdrew his hand, and sat on the chair, staring through the bars of the cot at the baby within- a golden-haired boy with purple eyes in dark blue star-patterned pyjamas, looking down at a tiny blonde baby in a pale green nightie.

"I think Daddy likes you more than me," William whispered. "He's always with you. He says it's because I'm a big boy and that I can look after myself better than you, but I think it's because he likes you better," he informed the sleeping child. Edward snorted quietly.

"He likes you better because you're Trisha's baby, I think. He didn't like my Mama very much. He never said so, but one night I heard him telling Trisha about Mama. He sounded like he was sad. He said that he didn't love her."

William was quiet for a little while.

"Maybe he doesn't love me as much because he didn't love my Mama like he loves yours."

Edward snuffled a little in his sleep. William stared at him, studying the little face, round and plump like all newborn children, examining the blonde eyelashes and the tiny toothless mouth, the pink flush in his cheeks, the wispy yellow hair. Edward looked peaceful- it was hard to believe that this innocent sleeping babe was the same child that screeched during the day, all purple in the face and flailing pink limbs unless he was being held by Trisha or fed. He looked angelic- a beautiful child.

"I hate you, Edward." said William, and then he crept back to his own room.


	5. An Envious Child

_I own nothing.__ Hair dye instructions courtesy of whatever brand of hair dye it is I found by the sink downstairs. Thanks to all who reviewed. Those who didn't... you make me sad. _

_Anyway, here's chapter five for you all._

**Chapter Five: An Envious Child**

**_Eight years ago_**

Thirteen-year-old William sat in his room, listening to his half-brothers yelling excitably while Trisha watched them fondly. A particularly loud yell make him frown in annoyance.

"Hey, Pipsqueak! Keep it down, some of us have homework!" he yelled.

The only reply he got was an angry yell. "_I'm not short,_ William!"

He sniggered. At least they were good for a laugh now and then.

He turned over, and caught sight of his reflection in the mirror on his desk. He glared at it.

Long blonde hair, not straight like his father's, but with a slight wave. Violet eyes. Pale skin. He apparently took more after his mother than his father- although it seemed he had been unable to escape the Elric Hair. Even Al's was a rather sandy colour- it seemed any son of Hoenheim was doomed to have blonde tresses. He hated it.

He wanted to change it.

"Hey, Trisha- I'm going out." he called. "I'll be back in about an hour."

Trisha called back- asking him where he was going, or some other motherly gesture of concern, and William snorted. It wasn't like she actually _cared_ about him, after all. No, he was just his Dad's son from a previous relationship. She had her own boys to look after- her own _perfect _little boys, Edward and Alphonse, the little _darlings_ everyone adored.

It was a twenty minute bus ride into town, and once you got there, you wondered why you'd come. It was a pretty dull place, really- nothing but grey buildings and traffic. The high street was lined with small shops, and down Wells Road was the primary school Ed and Al attended. He wandered the streets until he found what he was looking for- a shop that sold hair dye.

He browsed through the shelves of dye, ignoring the blonde- it was already that colour, thank you very much- and passing over brown and black. He lingered briefly on red, but decided against it. He considered a shade of dark blue- but then put it back. Finally, at the back of the shelf he found a small box.

"Envious Green Permanent Hair Dye," he read aloud. "Huh."

He studied the colour sample on the box- a dark, murky sort of colour. He considered it for a moment more, and then smirked.

"Envious Green it is, then." he murmered, grabbing a second box for good measure- his hair was pretty long after all, there might not be enough in just one.

As he wondered past the shelves to the till, he grabbed a few other hair products. After all, if he was going to change his hairstyle, he might as well go the whole hog. He paid for his things and left.

He wandered through the small town, grinning as he discovered a small shop he hadn't noticed before lurking in the back streets. If he was going to dye his hair, he might as well get a new wardrobe- and the clothes he had found in there were pretty much guaranteed to shock Trisha and his father. The black mini-skort especially was a nice touch, he felt.

He packed his purchases into a bag and made his way to the bus stop to head back home.

Once home, he went straight to the bathroom. The instructions on the dye box seemed simple enough- it couldn't be too hard, right? It said to allergy check it first though. Apparently that would take forty eight hours. He scowled- he'd have to wait that long?

Still, he did the allergy test as the box instructed, and then carefully hid the box away at the back of the medicine cabinet- if Trisha or his father found it, he could be quite sure he'd never get the chance to dye it.

Forty eight hours later, there was no sign of allergy, so William pulled on the rubber gloves from the box and an old t-shirt in case he spilled the stuff anywhere. Green hair was one thing, but green clothes were another. Variety was important, after all.

He soaked his hair in the unpleasant-smelling goop, following the directions to make sure all of his hair was covered. Sure enough, he had to use the second box too- when had his hair gotten this _long?_

He then pulled the plastic cap helpfully provided in the box over his hair, and waited.

It apparently took thirty minutes before you could finally wash it out, to his annoyance. He spent those minutes glaring at the clock andmentally demanding it to hurry up, wishing he'd brought a book or something in with him. The clock paid him no heed, and the minutes continued ot slip by agonisingly slowly.

Finally, it was done, so he stepped into the shower, pulled off the weird plastic cap, and rinsed away the dark green gunk until 'the water ran clear', as the hair dye box instructed. He stepped out of the shower again and towel-dried it, pulling on a dressing gown as he did so.

He studied his new hair in the bathroom mirror. It hung around his face in wet strands that reached his hips. It was a rather brackish shade of green, but he rather liked it- it suited him. Even the name on the box went pretty well with his personality. Envious Green, huh... well, he was envious alright.

However, the style didn't go very well with his new colour. His hair was... green, yes, but boring. He rifled through the bag from the shops the other day, and pulle dout the various hair products, using them to style it into long spikes. He smirked at his reflection- much better. But William would have to go, he decided- he didn't look much like a William anymore. He didn't much care- it was an awful name anyway, in his opinion.

He sat for a while, thinking. Outside the door, he could hear his half-brothers playing, and Trisha's concerned voice telling them to be careful. He felt a stab of jealousy- his half-brothers had a loving mother, but his had abandoned him- given him his name, and then disappeared.

Suddenly he grinned. _Jealous_ of the Pipsqueak and Al, was he? And he'd dyed his hair _Envious_ Green.

It became quite obvious to him what he should name himself.

_Envy._

It certainly fitted, after all.

He took out the skort and crop-top he'd brought in with him, quickly dressing. He glanced back at the mirror and smirked when he realised he was practically unrecognisable from the blonde-haired boy who'd come in. William could die right here in this bathroom, he thought.

He left the bathroom, and called out to his step-mother. "Hey, Trisha!" he smirked. "What do you think of my hair?"

She didn't like it.


	6. Loss

_Chapter six! Okay, I both love and hate this chapter. What do you think of it? _

_ Watch out for swearwords- there's quite a few in this chapter.  
_

_Disclaimer: I own zilch, zip, nothing and nada. I own absolutely squeak. There are any number of euphemisms for 'nothing' I could think of, but it's basically the same thing- I don't own it._

**Chapter Six: Loss**

**_Six years ago_**

"Okay, Ed! Are you going to say goodbye to Al and Envy before we go, sweetheart?" Trisha called.

A ten-year-old Ed nodded eagerly, and ran off down the corridor towards his little brother's room. "Bye Al! I'll bring you something back, okay? Get better!"

Al sneezed. "Bye, brother," he said, smiling despite his cold. "Don't get lost again." he added with a sly grin.

Ed scowled. "I didn't get lost! It's just... I didn't know where I was, was all."

Al laughed. "If you say so, brother. I'll see you later."

Ed left the room, and knocked on Envy's door. The green-haired teen pulled it open, glaring at Ed.

"What do you want, pipsqueak?" he asked, scowling.

Ed reddened. "_I'm not short!_" he yelled, and then seemed to remember what he was supposed to be doing. "I only came to say bye. We're going out now." he muttered.

Envy sneered. "So? Why do I care, pipsqueak?"

"Mum told me to say goodbye!" Ed told him indignantly.

"Just go away. I don't care whether you and Trisha are going out or not." Envy shrugged.

Edward narrowed his eyes angrily at his half-brother. "Fine! I won't bring you anything back!" he yelled, and ran off down the hallway towards his mother.

Trisha frowned a little at Envy's behaviour, but said nothing. She just wished he could see that she wasn't just pretending to care about him for his father's sake, she really did love him... but perhaps he would understand in time. Teenagers went through difficult phases, didn't they? Maybe this was just Envy's difficult phase. He would grow out of it- right? She was broken out of her thoughts by her eldest son stomping towards her.

Trisha smiled kindly at him. "Don't worry about Envy, Edward. He's just cross. We'll get him something nice to cheer him up, hmm?"

Edward scowled angrily, shaking his head. "Don't wanna get Envy anything," he muttered. "He's a jerk."

"Now, now, Ed," Trisha scolded. "I'm sure he wasn't trying to upset you. Come on now, sweetheart, we've got to go, or all the shops will close for lunch!"

Edward nodded and smiled, anger at Envy forgotten in favour of following his mother to the car. A few moments later he was buckled into the back seat.

Trisha started the car, and drove out and down the road. As she neared the bottom of the hill, she put her foot down on the brake- but the car didn't slow.

She felt a bubble of fear grow in her gut and put the brake on again- _but the car didn't slow_.

Panicked, she put her foot down again, harder- but nothing happened. The shop at the bottom of the hill was getting closer and closer and with no other option she tugged hard on the steering wheel, trying to turn the car around to avoid a crash as quickly as possible.

She was in a state of panic. There was the shop, hurtling towards her- but _she couldn't stop the car_. Behind her, Edward was crying out, and she tried to soothe him desperately.

"It's okay, baby, it's okay, something's gone wrong with the car but it's okay, it's okay-" she said frantically, the words tripping him over themselves as she spoke.

She jammed on the brakes again, but it had no effect. The car wasn't responding, and she couldn't turn quickly enough- but she had to stop, she had to, _her little boy was in this car and Goddamnit, she had to fucking stop right now-_

The car tires skidded, and she lost control, sending the vehicle veering into the shop, back end first. The car crumpled on impact and the windows smashed, showering both occupants with glass.

Trisha jerked forwards, straight into the airbag, the impact knocking her out instantly. The engine, luckily, was unharmed, and so there was no burst of flames, no explosion- but the back of the car, where Edward had been sat, was beyond repair, a heap of twisted metal and broken glass.

The owner of the shop had grabbed his phone as soon as he saw the car coming towards them. He punched in three numbers, and as soon as the phone was answered he garbled; "There's a car crash, it looks like she just lost control- I couldn't see anybody else in the car- you've gotta send an ambulance, quickly, please, people are hurt- what? Oh, oh, god, sorry, it's the newsagent on Maycross Avenue- number ninety-three- she wasn't slowing down, and she was trying to swerve the car around, but she didn't manage it- it just rammed straight into my window- no, no, I don't know, I don't know- right, right, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay- I'm going to check if anybody's hurt- okay- okay- yeah, I know CPR- there's no fire or anything, but the car's pretty mangled- I've got to go, I have to see if anyone's hurt-"

Others, meanwhile, were already approaching the wreckage, yelling for anybody conscious to respond, please, and that help was coming. Somebody wrapped their jacket around their arm and cleared some of the broken glass out of the front window so that they could pull Trisha out, laying her down on the pavement and checking her pulse.

"She's still with us, she's breathing- was there anybody else in the car? Lady, can you hear me? Was there anybody else in that car? Lady, lady talk to me- does anybody know her?" he asked. The replies were jumbled, everybody answering at once.

"Her name's Trisha Elric- she's Hoenheim's wife, they've got kids, somebody check the car-"

"I think- oh god, oh god... someone, help me here, there's a kid in there!" somebody cried.

"What? Oh, _hell_- oh shit, _shit_. Help me! Hold on, kid, can you hear me? We're going to get you out of there, okay, try to stay awake if you can hear me, alright? Help me out here; clear some of this stuff out the way- can you reach his seatbelt? Hold on, kid, hold on-" a voice yelled desperately.

"Trisha, Trisha wake up, they're getting your boy out, okay, can you hear me Trisha? Trisha, Trisha, can you hear me? He's alive, Trisha, wake up- oh, fuck! She's not breathing, I need help-"

Sirens sounded in the distance. Edward had been pulled out of the car, sobbing, bleeding, with two limbs bent off at odd angles- broken.

"My god, the poor kid's a mess- honey, honey? Listen, there's an ambulance coming for you and your Mum, but we need you to stay awake, alright? What's your name, honey?"

"That's Edward, I think- or it might be Alphonse- hey, kid, can you talk? _Kid?_"

"That's Edward, my daughter goes to school with them- Ed, sweetheart, you need to stay awake- look at me, Ed, that's it, now, I don't want you to worry, they're going to take you to the hospital and they're going to get you all fixed up, okay, but you need to stay awake for me, okay Ed? Now, listen to me, listen, Ed, can you tell me how Al's doing? He wasn't so well yesterday, is he feeling better? Stay awake, Ed, stay awake-"

The sirens stopped, and somebody pushed through the crowd. "The ambulance is here- step back a bit, step back- is anybody else hurt? Alright, okay, step back, let them get to the kid- is she breathing? Okay, she's breathing, it's okay Ed, your Mum's breathing, but you need to go with these people okay? They're doctors; they're going to help you get better, you and your Mum, but you've got to go with them- that's it, good boy, that's it, it's going to be alright. Okay, is anybody else hurt? Nobody? Right-"

Trisha and Ed were carefully carried into the ambulance, where a still-crying Edward was checked over by a young female doctor.

"Okay, Edward, is it? I'm Doctor Ricard, and I'm going to see where you're hurt, alright? Doctor Marco over there is looking after your Mum. It's going to be alright, Edward, but you have to sit still and let me fix you up, okay? Now, hold tight, I need to stop the bleeding, okay?"

Edward nodded, and did his best to calm down until they arrived at the hospital. They were both rushed to intensive care, where Edward had his broken bones looked at and the shards of glass that had been imbedded in his limbs removed. Trisha had managed to avoid any really serious injury thanks to her airbag, although one arm would still need a cast, she had a concussion, and, like Edward, she had received multiple wounds from the smashed windows.

Once the initial operations were out of the way, they were moved to a recovery ward. Slowly but surely, they both began to improve, and soon Trisha was out of the hospital and back at home with Hoenheim, Envy, and Alphonse.

But then Edward's condition took a turn for the worse.

His injuries became infected.

The doctors did their best to get rid of the infection, and for the most part, it worked- but on his right arm and left leg, it had progressed too far to be gotten rid of.

It soon became clear that if they wanted to save Edward, then his right arm and left leg would have to be amputated. They had tried everything they could, but in the end, it just wasn't enough. He was rushed to the operating theatre, and his entire right arm and most of his left leg were cut off. It saved his life- but nevertheless, Trisha was sobbing when she took her baby boy home from hospital, cradling him in her arms, and apologising over and over again.

The only consolation anybody could offer the Elric family was that at least nobody had died.


	7. Not So Accidental

_I own nothing. _

_There's a guest appearance from Mustang and Hawkeye in this chapter. Anyway, enjoy, and please leave a review._

**Chapter Seven: Not So Accidental**

**_Six years ago_**

It had been two weeks since Edward returned home from hospital.

Not long after that, their neighbour's daughter, Winry Rockbell, had shown up at the door. She had brought flowers for Trisha and chocolate for Ed- but she had also brought an offer from her grandmother.

"Granny used to be a doctor and now she's a mechanic. She says- if you want- we could make you a wheelchair. I know you've got one, Ed, but I meant a better one- faster, easier to use, that kind of thing. I mean, it would be expensive- but it'd be better than the chair you've got now."

Winry Rockbell had been a close friend of the younger Elrics for as long as they could remember, and they knew that she and her grandmother were the best mechanics in the area. They readily accepted her offer, and it was only a few days before she brought round the new chair- sleeker and more compact than the motorised monster the hospital had recommended to them, and faster and easier to handle, as promised. Ed had quickly adapted to his new chair, getting used to the controls on the armrest and the speed at which it moved. Pretty soon he was using it as if it were the most natural thing in the world- although he would much rather have his real limbs back, as he complained time and time again.

During the several weeks that Trisha and Edward had been in hospital, a disturbing piece of information had come to light. While the police were looking over the wreckage of Trisha's car, they discovered that the brakes had been deliberately tampered with. Since Hoenheim and Trisha had separate cars, it seemed fairly obvious that the target had been Trisha.

At first, the main suspect had been Hoenheim- horrible as the idea was, as her husband, he was the obvious choice. But then they had found the fingerprints.

It was two weeks after Edward's return from hospital that they finally found out who those fingerprints belonged to.

"Mrs Elric," the police officer began, "Do you know anybody called Dante Bolton?"

The officer was a woman with rust-coloured eyes and long blonde hair swept back off her face in a clip. Stood behind her was a handsome man with black hair and dark grey eyes.

"Dante Bolton?" asked Trisha. "The name is familiar- excuse me a moment, would you, officer?"

The blonde woman nodded. "Of course, Mrs Elric. Would you like a few minutes to yourself?"

Trisha smiled. "Actually, I was hoping to see my husband, if I could. I'm sure he'd know who she was... I remember him mentioning her once or twice- Oh!"

"Mrs Elric?"

"Dante Bolton- I think- My husband had a relationship with her, oh, years ago. Maybe... fifteen, sixteen years? I never met her, but she... wasn't a nice woman, by all accounts. My eldest boy is actually her son. Why?" she asked- and then she blanched with realisation. "You're not saying- those fingerprints aren't- hers?"

"I'm afraid so, Mrs Elric. You say you don't know anything about her, then?"

"No- you'd have to ask Hoenheim, he'd know her best. But the last time he saw her was when she left Envy- ah, William with him, and that would've been fifteen years ago now."

"I see. Mrs Elric, could you ask your husband to come in, please?"

"Certainly, officer. Could I have a few minutes to talk to him first?"

"Of course, Mrs Elric. Would you ask him to come through once you're done?"

"I will, officer. Excuse me- ah, thank you."

Hoenheim got straight to his feet when his wife re-entered the room. "Trisha?"

"I'm fine, dear... but do you remember those fingerprints they found?"

Hoenheim nodded. "Do they know who they belong to?"

"They belong to a woman named Dante Bolton."

Hoenheim's eyes widened with shock. "_Dante?!_"

"So it is her..."

"But- it's been fifteen years! I said I never wanted to see her again! Why would she- ?"

"The police want to talk to you about her, Hoenheim. Tell them everything you can- I want them to catch the woman who hurt our Edward."

Heoheim nodded, and wrapped his arms around his wife's shoulders, drawing her close.

"Of course. Of course I will. I'll do anything I can to protect our boys- and you. I never want you to be hurt like that again."

She smiled. "I love you."

They stayed clutched together in their embrace a few moments. "I love you too, Trisha. I'm going to talk to those police officers- Mustang and Hawkeye, wasn't it? I'm going to do everything I can to help them catch that madwoman."

He let go of her and walked into the other room. "Good afternoon, officers. My wife explained what this was about. Please, whatever I can do to help, I will. What do you want to ask me about Dante Bolton?"

* * *

A few weeks later, Hoenheim gathered his things together in a suitcase. He bent over his sleeping wife's still form, and kissed her forehead.

"Goodbye, Trisha," he whispered. "I love you- but I can't stay here. I can't let her hurt you, can't let her hurt our boys."

He straightened up, and shut the door to their bedroom quietly behind him. He lingered outside each of his sons' doors- going inside to wish them a good night for the final time, sweeping Edward's long blonde hair out of his eyes, tussling Alphonse's sandy brown mop, and tucking Envy's green-dyed locks behind his ears.

As he left his eldest son's room, he half-turned. "Trisha is your mother just as much as she is Edward's or Alphonse's, Envy- no, William. All three of you are her sons. I'm sorry I'm leaving you, especially after what happened to Edward- but I don't want Dante to hurt any of you any more."

He left, and quietly locked the front door behind him.

"Our boys will be fine, Trisha," he told the night sky. "They're yours, after all- and mine."


	8. Death

_Question: do I update too fast? I update as I finish each chapter, and since I have absolutely nothing to do except write at the moment, I update very quickly. However, if you think I update too fast, I could just store up the chapters for a little while and post, say, once a week or so. It's up to you, so please tell me. If no one says anything about it, I shall assume you don't mind me continuing with the daily updates. _

_I would also just like to say that this is going to be a sad, depressing chapter. Sorry._

_I don't own fullmetal alchemist._

**Chapter Eight: Death**

_**One year ago**_

Edward rolled his chair into the lift, and Envy and Alphonse followed him. Al pushed a button beside the doors and they slid shut, and the lift began to rise.

A few moments later, the lift lurched to a stop, and the doors slid open. Edward's fingers clicked across the controls of his chair and it rolled forwards over the blue linoleum floor of the corridor, past pale doors and past navy plastic seats bolted to the walls. He drew to a halt outside one door, and Envy and Alphonse sat in the blue seats, Alphonse on the very edge of his. Edward rapped on the door, and they waited in silence.

The wheels of Edward's chair made a squeaking noise as he shifted around uncomfortably. Alphonse was fidgeting.

After a few moments, the door opened, and a young man came out.

"Hello Envy, Edward, Alphonse," he said softly. "You can come in, if you'd like. She's awake."

Ed's chair began to move again, followed by Envy and Alphonse. The young man stepped aside to let them pass.

"How's she doing?" asked Envy quietly as Ed and Al sat by her bedside. "Any improvement?"

The young man shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, Envy. I'm sorry to say that- there's nothing we can do for her."

Envy looked away. He had expected it- Trisha had been looking paler, weaker every time they came- but he had tried to push away the inevitable truth and pretend she was getting better.

"She wanted to speak to you. Alone, I think. Do you want to tell your brothers first?"

"Half-brothers," he corrected automatically. "...I'd appreciate it if... if you told them, please." he said quietly. The nurse nodded, and laid a hand on his arm- a comforting gesture that did little to make the hole in his stomach go away.

"I understand." said the nurse. "Edward, Alphonse, I'd like to talk to you for a moment, please."

The two younger boys followed the nurse out of the room, and shut the door carefully behind them. Envy went to sit beside Trisha's bed.

"Trisha- the nurse says-"

"I know, Envy." she said softly, voice hoarse and raspy. "I know. Please, just listen to me."

He nodded.

"You have always been like my own son to me, Envy," she said. "Always. I know you didn't like me very much... but I love you just as much as I love Edward and Alphonse. Envy... William. William, I have to ask you- will you take care of them for me? My boys? You're twenty years old now, and I think you can do it- no, I know you can. You're my son, after all, I would know, hm?" she smiled weakly. "Look after them, William. Look after yourself. Promise me?"

Envy stared at the woman he had once sworn he hated.

"...I promise, Trisha." he said, softly. He looked at her- pale and sickly and ill- and felt something catch in his throat.

She smiled at him. He looked away.

He heard a shocked, choked cry from outside, and then somebody ratting at the handle of the door before it opened suddenly. Edward burst in, Alphonse behind him, both wide-eyed and pale. Ed rushed to Trisha's bedside.

"Mum?" he said in a small voice. "Mum, you're going to be okay, right?"

Trisha just smiled at him. "Edward... take care of your little brother. All of you need to take care of each other now..."

"Mum, no, you're going to be alright! She'll be okay, right?" he asked, desperately. He clutched at his mother's hand, and then Alphonse was there too, kneeling beside her bed. She was propped up on the pillows, looking at them all with that distant smile, as if she was already gone.

"My boys... my three big brave boys..." she whispered. "I love you."

"No, Mum!" Envy wasn't sure who'd said it- Edward or Alphonse or maybe even himself. He didn't care, either- there was an empty pit inside him and a pain in his stomach, and something was caught in his throat and something was hurting his eyes-

"Take care." she said.

There was an awkward, apologetic cough. The source was the nurse, who was stood beside the machine that kept Trisha alive. The look on his face was sad- he didn't want to be here, didn't want to do this.

"Do you want to leave?" he asked quietly. Envy shook his head violently. Edward, Alphonse- Envy wasn't even sure they had heard, but he knew that they wouldn't want to leave their mother to die alone.

The nurse nodded, and opened his mouth to speak- and then shut it again, thinking better of it.

Trisha coughed. Edward didn't let go of her hand, but nevertheless it slipped from his grasp.

He clutched at it again- but this time, she didn't respond. Her hand did not tighten around his, did not even twitch in his grip, although he was holding it so tightly it had to hurt- and he could feel warmth fading. He cried out-

And he was crying, and Alphonse too, and Envy turned away from them, unable to look any more.

He didn't want to watch them. They needed their privacy... and so did he.

He stepped out of the room, and once he was sure there was nobody else around, he shed a tear for Trisha Elric.


	9. Obsession

_Okay, we're past the flashback chapters. Also, for those who may be interested, there is a side story to this called 'Picking on Alphonse', based on something Envy said in the very first chapter ("most people had never seen Edward run over three bullies and successfully knock one of them out"). It's humour, and a lot more light-hearted than this is. Go have a look if you like._

_Notes on this chapter: The homunculi are human in this and needed normal names. But they won't keep those names, so don't worry._

_I own nothing. And daily updates will be continued since I have three votes against stopping (and one threat of death by poking)._

**Chapter Nine: Obsession**

**_Present day_**

"Hoenheim," a female voice said. She sounded like a pouting child that wasn't getting its own way. "She's _gone_ now. Come back to me."

"Dante- I can't believe you. Leave."

Dante scowled. "But she's dead. Come back to me- you don't have to stay faithful anymore. She's gone."

"Dante, you- I _loved_ her, Dante. I am not going to sully her memory by _sleeping with the woman who tried to murder her!_"

"But Trisha's _gone_," she whined like a petulant child. "She's _gone_. Why can't you see that?"

"Trisha was my wife. Death may have parted us but I that doesn't change how I feel about her- and it doesn't change how I feel about you. You tried to kill my wife and child, Dante. Get the hell away from me before I try to do the same to you."

"You don't mean that, do you?"

"I _do._ You are nothing more than a malicious bitch, Dante. A murderer."

"I can't be a murderer, since they didn't actually die."

"If you think that makes you innocent, you are wrong, Dante. Leave me in peace."

There was a brief silence. Dante changed tactics.

"Hoenheim," she purred. "Marriage doesn't mean anything nowadays. I know you're being all honourable, but really, nobody would think any the worse of you... you even ran off on her, so you can't have loved her that much..."

"I left her to protect her from _you!" _he shouted angrily. He stopped, and sighed. "Dante, get out. What do I have to do to make you leave? I gave you five minutes to talk to me, as you requested. Because of you, one of my sons lost two limbs and my wife spent several weeks in hospital with serious injuries. I don't want to see you, Dante."

"Oh, come on. At least tell me how our son is doing..."

"He's not your son. Who brought him up? Who comforted him when he fell? Who stayed with him when he had nightmares? Trisha. He is not your son, Dante."

"Tell me how my little William is, Hoenheim. If you do nothing else, at least tell me that."

"I don't believe for a minute that you care about him."

"Hm? Well, no... But if you tell me, I'll go. I promise." she said.

Hoenheim was quiet. When he spoke, his voice sounded distant.

"He calls himself Envy now. He dyed his hair green... he never seemed happy. But he's a good child... man, now. Takes care of our boys... her boys."

"Oh, does he? Envy, huh... how _cute_. What a lovely idea. Maybe I should try that- my friends can all be nicknamed after the seven sins. And then he can join us, and we'll all be one big happy family, hm?"

"You mean your _gang members?_ Envy hates you, Dante. You abandoned him. He won't join your gang, and neither will Edward and Alphonse."

"Who said anything about Edward and Alphonse? But more importantly... just remember, Hoenheim. You abandoned him too."

He did not reply. Dante cleared her throat.

"So... you still refuse me, Hoenheim?"

"Yes."

"You will regret rejecting me. Mark my words."

* * *

Dante stomped through the old church in a rage. Her followers- the people Hoenheim called her gang- stood at the sides of the room.

The church had long ago been shut up, and was awaiting demolition- it was old, and had become dangerous, and so a new church had been built, and Dante had adopted the old building as a meeting place, enjoying the irony of a house of God and virtue being turned into a den of criminals. The pews had been taken away, so the stained-glass windows cast beautiful jewel-coloured light onto a bare floor, silhouettes of saints glowing on the pale stone.

To one side sat a tall woman with long, wavy black hair, and a curvaceous figure. Tattooed in the middle of her chest was a winged serpent eating its own tail, surrounding a six-pointed star- the ouroboros, a symbol Dante had adopted for her little group. This woman was Belle Marlowe, and beside her stood a short, squat man, with a bald head and a round, bloated face, sucking on his fingertips. This was Jordan Richards, a dim young man with an insatiable appetite. His tattoo was on his tongue.

Opposite these two was a tall man with dark hair, and a patch over one blind eye. It was on the eyelid of his hidden eye that he was tattooed, and his name was King Bradley.

In the shadow of an archway stood Juliette Douglas, twin sister of the late Trisha Elric, and her ouroboros was on her shoulder. Sat on the floor beside her was her adopted son, Thomas Curtis, a small boy aged fifteen, with waist-length black hair and the tattoo on his foot.

Lounging in the shadows was the final member of Dante's gang, Jack Campbell, with his ouroboros on the back of his hand. He wore sunglasses, and had had his teeth filed to sharp points, and he was well known for being avaricious and materialistic.

Dante stopped pacing, and addressed her group of followers.

"Did you know that my son has renamed himself Envy? An interesting idea, don't you think? Naming oneself after a deadly sin... I think it strangely appropriate. And so... I think we should do the same. Hm?"

Jack shrugged. "You're the boss." he grinned, shark-like teeth gleaming.

"It could prevent trouble with the law, should we be overheard." said Belle. Beside her, Jordan nodded happily: Anything Belle said was okay with him.

Juliette nodded her consent, and beside her, Thomas gave his approval. With five votes cast, King shrugged his shoulders and agreed.

Dante smiled. "Good. Juliette, you can be our Sloth, I think, and Thomas... Wrath. King;" she studied him briefly, "Our Pride. Belle... Lust, I think. Jordan shall be our Gluttony, and Jack, you shall be Greed. What do you think?"

The newly-christened Lust frowned slightly, but said nothing. Greed grinned a pointy-toothed grin, Sloth shrugged, and Pride nodded his acquiescence. Gluttony said nothing at all, and Wrath smiled widely.

"Good. Now... Hoenheim has rejected me. Lust, Gluttony..." she seemed to roll the names around in her mouth, as if trying out the fit of them, "Why don't you go and visit his boys and see if we can't find a way to convince him, hm?"

* * *

_By the way, I did some research and it IS possible to get your tongue tatooed, so Gluttony's tatoo isn't as unlikely as it sounds... but... Ouch._

_Just in case it wasn't clear, Belle Marlowe Lust, Jordan Richards Gluttony, King Bradley is obviously Pride and Juliette Douglas Sloth, Thomas Curtis (Izumi's kid and Sloth's adoptive son) is Wrath, and finally, Jack Campbell is Greed. Wrath is obviously a bit older than he appears to be in the anime (how old IS he?) because I wasn't making somebody who looks about nine a gang member._


	10. Dark Deeds

_Okay, here's chapter ten. I can't think of anything to say here though. Um... enjoy?_

_Anyway, I own nothing._

**Chapter Ten: Dark Deeds**

**_Present day_**

It was a dark, cold night, with no moon. The stars were hidden behind thick, black clouds. It was late, and the only source of light were the orange street lamps overhead, and the soft yellow glow from behind the curtains and blinds at the windows of each building.

Lust stood in the shadow of one of these buildings, Gluttony beside her, chewing on a chicken bone. In Lust's gloved hand was a gun, primed and ready to fire.

Unaware of the hidden threat, Envy walked on ahead of his half-brothers. Edward and Alphonse were arguing over something again- Edward had apparently scared off a new classmate somehow. Knowing Edward, the poor guy had probably said something with the word 'small' or 'little' or 'short' in it, and Ed had assumed he was being talked about and blown up. You didn't even have to call him short these days, just hint that he _might_ just _possibly_ be a _teensy_ bit on the small side- and Boom! Explosion.

He snickered slightly as he pictured Edward yelling at the poor newbie- nobody ever thought to warn them about Edward Elric- when a loud _bang_ broke through the silence of the evening, and he heard his half-brother cry out. His eyes widened- a gunshot? Oh, hell no. No, no, _no_, he could _not _lose anybody else, he was not going to lose anyone else-

Barely a second afterwards, he heard an angry _"Damnit!"_ and felt relief course through him. If Edward was swearing, that meant he was pissed off, and if he was pissed off, that meant he was alive, and so was Alphonse, because Edward would've been a hell of a lot more than just pissed off if Al was hurt. Envy heard the motor of the wheelchair kick up, and knew that both boys were running for cover.

"What the hell?" he heard Edward muttering. "Al, you okay?"

"I'm fine brother, but look- your wheelchair..."

"Ah, damnit, Winry's gonna kill me! What the hell was that about anyway?"

Suddenly, a figure stepped out of the shadow of the nearby building. From behind her stepped a short, squat man, carrying what looked like a box. The man reached up to the top of the object, and suddenly, glaring white light shattered the darkness. So the box was some kind of lamp- but god, that was _bright_.

Once his eyes got used to it, he could see the two figures more clearly- a tall, voluptuous woman dressed in a low-cut black dress, high-heeled boots and long black gloves, a strange tattoo on her chest, and beside her, the small, fat man, with a blank face and little round eyes, also dressed in nothing but black.

The dim-looking man placed the lamp on the floor- it must have been a stage lamp or something, because it really was horribly bright- and hid behind the woman like a child. The woman was holding a gun in one gloved hand, and right now it was pointed directly towards Edward and Alphonse, despite the fact that they were now hiding behind a car.

"You boys should think yourselves lucky," she said in a low voice. "This is just a warning. Next time..." she trailed off.

"A warning about what? What've we ever done to you?" Edward yelled. Envy cursed- did he never know when to shut up?

"You haven't done anything. This is more of a threat, really. This is where you learn that if you make us angry, we will make you _dead_."

"Who are you?" came Alphonse's voice.

The little man grinned unnervingly: a mouth full of teeth that looked like they were probably capable of crushing rocks. The woman merely considered them for a moment.

"You can call me Lust, little boy. Come, Gluttony. We have other business to attend to." and then the lamp went out, plunging their eyes, only just used to the light, into darkness. When they regained their night vision, Lust and Gluttony were gone.

"What the hell-?"

"Edward, shut up. Let's just get the hell out of here."

And for once in his life, Edward did not argue.

* * *

"Yes, Dante. Scared, but alive. Yes. Yes. Right. Look, can I go? It's late, I've got other things to do with my time..." Belle- known to the Elrics as Lust- was speaking into a public telephone. "What? Oh come on. You can't be... Dante? Dante! Ah, hell, she hung up on me!"

She groaned, and placed the phone back on the hook. She had pulled a fur trimmed coat over her skimpy black dress now- the night was cold, after all, and a dangerous place for a young lady. Admittedly, she was armed, and even if she wasn't she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but still.

"Come on, Jordan, Dante wants us." she sighed. "Back to that dump of a broken-down church. I understand it appeals to her twisted sense of humour, but couldn't she at least pick out somewhere with central heating?"

The squat man whom Dante had named Gluttony did not answer- he very rarely said anything, unless it was to ask his companion about food. Lust sighed, and led him towards the car.

"Lust," he said, "I'm hungry."

Well, that was one thing, she supposed- at least he'd gotten used to using the new names quickly enough. She had a feeling he'd simply wiped the old names from his mind and replaced them, but it didn't really matter much. It just bothered her that Dante would instantly single her out as Lust like that. Jack- Greed was lustful. Sloth could be lustful. Heck, everybody could be lustful- except maybe Wrath, who, at fifteen, was maybe a little too young (or perhaps not, teenagers did all sorts these dayss, she supposed), and Gluttony. She gave an involuntary shudder- she _really_ didn't want to think about _Gluttony _being lustful.

It annoyed her- just because she was the pretty one with the good figure, she was Lust now? She wasn't at all licentious, really. After all, she spent most of her time looking after Jor- Gluttony. How many boyfriends could she get with _him_ following her around?

He was just like a big baby. A really big, really hungry baby. A really big hungry baby that, on occasion, had been heard to ask such disturbing things as "Can I eat him, Belle?" whenever they actually _met _her boyfriends.

She pulled the car into the space, and opened the doors. She stood out in the night air for a moment, appreciating the few moments of calm she would have before she had to go and talk to Dante.

"Come on, Gluttony. Let's go in."

Although the main door to the church was firmly locked and bolted, it had not been hard to break in via a small side door. Lust strode towards the side-door and rapped a quick staccato rhythm on the door.

From the other side of the door, a lazy voice drawled, "Yeah?"

"Greed. It's Lust. Now let me in, it's bloody cold."

"Dante says no password, no entry."

"_Homunculus_. Now let me in!"

The door opened into an antechamber, where Greed was sat in a large, old velvet armchair that had been dragged there from Dante's previous hiding place- an abandoned and dangerously unstable mansion. They'd left that one when the ceiling had nearly collapsed.

"You get the job done?"

"Yes. I rang Dante, but she told me to come straight here. Any idea why?"

Greed shrugged. "Not really. Probably ranting about her ex-boyfriend again."

Lust groaned. "Bloody hag. Alright, come on, Gluttony."

She stepped through a large wooden door into the main part of the church, right beside the altar. She walked past the dais towards the heavy stone font, where Dante was stood.

"Dante," Lust said, "Why did you want me here?"

"We're moving," said Dante. "Hoenheim knows where we are. We need to leave now."

"Anything else?"

"No. Go and fetch the car. We're going."

* * *

_Lust's a little out of character here, to my mind. The way I see it, she acts like Lust with Dante and people outside their little gang, but she's just Belle Marlowe with Gluttony and the rest of the sins._


	11. Return of the Father

_It's my birthday! As a present, you can leave me a review. Pretty please?_

_In other news, I don't own fullmetal alchemist. Also, this chapter is set as soon as Envy, Ed and Al get home after Lust and Gluttony ambushed them._

**Chapter Eleven: A Father's Return**

**_Present day_**

Envy slammed the door shut behind them and locked it. He looked at it thoughtfully before taking a chair from the kitchen and jamming it beneath the handle, dumping a heavy statuette- a favourite ornament of Trisha's that they had kept to remember her- on the seat of the chair. He wasn't particularly clear on why he had done this- his mind felt foggy- but he knew that he had a vague idea that it might help.

He could hear Al, hurrying for the phone, and knew that he didn't want the younger boy to call the police- although he wasn't sure why. He just knew that he didn't want to aggravate these people any more than they already had- although _how_ they'd aggravated them, he didn't know.

"Al, don't phone the police. Ring Pinako Rockbell though, tell her what's happened- She'll need to take a look at Ed's wheelchair."

Al looked at him questioningly for a moment, then shrugged, accepting that Envy probably had his reasons. Ed raised an eyebrow, but did not comment, much to Envy's relief- he was not in the mood to deal with his impulsive half-brother.

He glanced at Ed's chair, and noticed that the damage was only superficial, and would be relatively easy to repair- it seemed the bullet had struck the handles of the chair, which they never used, since Ed was rather insistent that, missing limbs or no, he could take care of himself, thank you very much, and the chair was motorised anyway.

The three brothers did not talk much. After Al had put down the phone, they barricaded themselves in the kitchen, holding makeshift weapons more commonly used for food preparation, none of them particularly willing to go to sleep.

The night passed without incident, despite their fears. They remained alert throughout the morning, jumping at the slightest of sounds. And then at roughly eleven o' clock, there was a knock on the door.

After a brief, whispered argument in which it was concluded that murderers probably did not knock politely at doors, Ed went to open the door, Alphonse following. Envy came with them, deciding that he really shouldn't allow his younger half-brothers to open doors to possible homicidal maniacs alone, no matter how much they annoyed him.

The cleared the chair away from the door and placed Trisha's heavy ornament back on its shelf, and then, anxiously, opened the door.

For a moment, there was a shocked silence, and then-

"_**You BASTARD! What the hell are you doing here, old man?"**_

The visitor staggered backwards as a fist caught him in the gut.

"Edward..." he said quietly. He turned to the other two boys- Envy glaring at him with hate in his eyes, and Alphonse with disbelief.

"Envy, Alphonse... I'm so sorry."

Envy balled his hand into a fist and pulled his arm back. Later, he didn't even remember punching him full in the face. For the second time in as many minutes, Hoenheim fell backwards.

"Dad?" said Alphonse quietly, and then rushed forwards and wrapped his arms around the man, in stark contrast to his brother's reactions. "Dad!"

Edward gave his father a disgusted look. "You _bastard_. You... you bloody _bastard._"

"Where the hell have you been these past few years anyway?" asked Envy.

"And why the hell have you come back now?" Edward demanded.

Alphonse let go of him.

"Err... I'd quite like to know the answers to those questions too, actually."

"Yes, yes of course... I'm sorry to intrude, but may I come in?"

Envy glared at him, but knew that they could hardly continue the argument in the corridor outside their flat. Scowling, he nodded, and steped aside to alllow his father into their home.

The older man glanced around their kitchen, looking mildly surprised. You couldn't blame him really- it was still in a state of disarray following a panicked search for defensive weapons the previous night. When Lust and Gluttony had made it clear that they were interested in the boys, for whatever reasons, they had done their best to prepare themselves for another attack.

"What happened here?" asked Hoenheim. Ed glared.

"We were attacked," he said bluntly, "By two people calling themselves Lust and Gluttony. A woman with long black hair and a tattoo on her... chest, and a short fat guy."

"A tattoo?" said Hoenheim. "Of what?"

"It was on her chest, I wasn't looking!" said Edward, red in the face. "Some kind of symbol."

Hoenheim looked thoughtful. "Do you think it might have been the ouroboros? A serpent eating its own tail." he amended, catching sight of his sons' confused looks.

"Wait... do you know these people?" Ed asked, suspicion in his voice.

Hoenheim sighed heavily. "If that _was_ an ouroboros, then yes, I know them. But that story can wait," he gave each of them a look which said that the subject was closed for now. "First, I should answer your other questions. As to where I have been these past few years... I have been in hiding." he said with a heavy sigh.

"In hiding?" said Envy, doubtfully.

"From your mother, Envy. You remember the car accident, of course?"

The boys exchanged glances. Of course they did, but what did that have to do with anything?

"We- that is, Trisha and I- never told you, but the car accident was not an accident in any sense of the word. Envy's mother- a woman named Dante Bolton- did something to the brakes in the car. That was what caused the crash."

"But why?" asked Al. "Why would she do that?"

Hoenheim sighed. "Once, a very long time ago, Dante and myself were... lovers, if you will. After a while, I left her- I considered her a dangerously jealous, obsessive and occasionally even violent woman. A year after I left, she approached me, wishing to start dating again. She brought you with her, Envy."

Envy started. Hoenheim had never really talked about his mother.

"She seemed rather desperate to convince me to come back to her, but I refused. At the time, I did not realise just how desperate she really was." he said with a sigh.

"It seemed that despite the fact our relationship had ended years before, she considered me to be hers. She tried on several occasions to win me back, as it were. At first it was extremely small things- phone calls, letters, gifts- but when she saw that this approach was not working, she moved onto more violent methods. She vandalised our house once- Envy, you might remember that, but I think Edward and Alphonse, you may have been a little young- and finally, she tampered with Trisha's car."

His eyes moved to Edward then, who shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"That was when I decided that it was too dangerous for me to remain with you. Dante was not going to give up until she was sure Trisha was no longer a 'threat', and so I left, knowing that once Dante thought I didn't care for you, she would leave you alone. It seems to have worked... until now. If those people you saw yesterday are who I think they are, she has started targeting you. I'm glad I returned. I wouldn't want you boys having to deal with this alone."

"So... my mother is trying to kill us... to get you to date her?" Envy said, distrustfully. "That's... a little far-fetched."

"I know it seems that way, but you don't understand that Dante will do anything to get what she wants. That's why I left her in the first place. It didn't matter who or what was in her way, Dante always got what she wanted eventually. She consorts with known criminals, she is the leader of some kind of gang- she's a dangerous woman. If only I had known how dangerous back then, none of us would be in this mess. She has been known to kill people over trivial and unimportant things. She is obsessive and as far as she is concerned, the whole world revolves around her."

"Right... so, what about this gang of hers? You think they're the ones who attacked us?"

"It seems likely. I think I could sketch them for you, if it might help identify your attackers."

Envy nodded, and Alphonse went to fetch a pencil and paper. Hoenheim started quickly sketching a few figures onto the paper.

The first was Dante herself: a curly-haired woman in a rather old-fashioned, but elegant, dress.

Next to her he drew a man was sunglasses and spiked teeth, which he labelled Jack Campbell. He paused for a moment, then in neat, slanted handwriting, added, "Greed?"

He drew another man, this one tall with an eyepatch. He labelled him King Bradley, and wrote 'Pride?' next to him. Then he drew a woman, the spitting image of the late Trisha Elric.

"That was Trisha's twin sister," he said softly. "If Dante has started naming her followers after the sins now, I'm not sure what she'd be called... her real name is Juliette Douglas. Your mother was Trisha Douglas, before we married..." he looked at Ed and Al, who nodded.

Beside Louise he drew a boy of maybe fourteen or fifteen, with long black hair. "Thomas Curtis," he muttered as he labelled him. "I'm not sure what he'd be called either, but Wrath might be appropriate."

Next, a curvaceous woman, with a tattoo above her breasts, and long dark hair. "Belle Marlowe," he said.

"That's Lust." confirmed Ed, and Al and Envy nodded.

Finally, Hoenheim drew a dumpy, heavy man with a bald head. "Jordan Richards."

"Gluttony." said Envy. Edward and Alphonse nodded, and Hoenheim sighed softly.

"Well, we've confirmed that they're targeting you, now. I'm sorry. I should've seen this coming, I should've protected you..."

"Yes, you should've." muttered Ed, but said nothing else.

"Well, what should we do? We haven't phoned the police in case we got them angry. You know them best."

Hoenheim took a deep breath, and studied his sons for a moment. Ed was glaring defiantly, Envy was distrustful and even Alphonse looked rather wary of him.

"I want to stay with you. I should be able to help protect you from future attacks."

There was a brief, shocked silence, before Ed violently protested.

"What? No way, old man! Not after..."

Edward halted, mid-rage, looking stricken.

"After what?" asked Hoenheim, softly.

The silence was tangible.

When Ed finally spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper.

"After what you did to Mum." he said. "She waited for you. She waited, day after day after day, and you never came back. She _died_ waiting for you. Just... wasted away. Like the light was gone from her life."

Hoenheim said nothing. Ed refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"She waited for you, you _bastard_. That was what killed her, in the end. It wasn't the sickness. I could see it, in her eyes, in her smile... she died of a broken heart."

There was a long silence.

"Edward... I loved Trisha, more than anything. I left to protect her... and you. I could never have forgiven myself if you were hurt because of me." Hoenehim said, reaching out as if to touch Edward's shoulder- but the blonde haired boy wrenched away from him, kicking his wheelchair backwards.

"Oh, yeah? Well look what you've done, old man! She's dead, and it's all because of you. If you'd stayed... if you'd stayed, she would never have died. If you'd stayed, we could've saved her... We could've done something..." he trailed off.

Hoenheim gazed at him regretfully. "Edward... it's common for people to look for someone to blame when they lose somebody they love..."

"No! Shut up, you bastard! I know it's true- I know that if you hadn't left her like that, she would've been okay!"

Surprisingly, it was not Alphonse, but Envy who laid a hand on Edward's shoulder.

"Ed."

"What?" he asked, looking up with lost, hate-filled eyes.

"We should let the old man stay for a bit. I know he's a bastard, but maybe he can protect us. I mean, we're going to need all the help we can get."

The silence was stifling. It seemed to fill the room, almost physical, as if you could've reached out and touched it. Maybe you could have- maybe, if they'd put out a hand, they would have felt it, cold, harsh, solid, sending an uncomfortable shiver down the spine.

"...Yeah. Fine. Whatever." Ed said, and then the wheelchair whirred into life, and he left for his room without another word.


	12. Prosthetics

_Hey, look, it's Winry. Hi Winry._

_In case you hadn't already guessed, Winry's in this chapter. Other than that... no chapter notes. But I had a great birthday!_

_I own nothing._

**Chapter Twelve: Prosthetics**

**_Present day_**

"So, what's the plan?"

"We're leaving. If we're lucky, we might slip under Dante's radar and lose her."

Ed nodded, but Al looked concerned.

"We're leaving?"

"I'm sorry, Alphonse, but it's simply not safe here anymore." said Hoenheim gently.

Al looked crestfallen. "Well, let's at least wait until Winry and Granny Pinako can straighten out Ed's chair."

Hoenheim considered this for a moment, and then nodded. "You're right. It wouldn't do if the chair broke down."

"She'll around pretty soon, actually- we rung her yesterday."

Hoenheim nodded, and they lapsed into silence. Ed avoided talking to Hoenheim wherever possible, and Envy was being deliberately hostile towards the man. Only Alphonse was really happy to see him- but with both of his brothers glaring at him whenever he talked to his father, he soon gave up on conversation.

It was another half hour before Winry arrived, toolbox in one hand, wrench held menacingly in the other. As soon as she saw Ed, that wrench went flying towards his skull.

"You _idiot!_ What have you gotten yourself into? Honestly! Do you have any idea how worried I was when Al rang me in the middle of the night and said you needed some repairs doing because _you got shot at?!_" she asked, furiously.

"Ow, Winry... it's not like it's my fault!" Edward rubbed his head, glaring at the mechanic.

"Oh, I'm sure! Edward Elric, what did you do to get yourself targeted by criminals?" she asked menacingly.

"Nothing, Winry, nothing! I swear! Ask that bastard, it's his fault!"

She had retrieved the wrench by this point, and whacked Ed none-too-gently with it when he said the word 'bastard'.

"Don't swear, Ed, and... Wait a minute. Who is 'that bastard', Ed?" she asked, giving Hoenheim a puzzled look. The man had the grace to look slightly sheepish.

"It's Dad," said Al, sounding both happy and slightly wary, giving sidelong looks to both his older brothers as he said this. Envy and Edward both had the same look on their face: sour and angry. Winry would've giggled at how similar the famously argumentative brothers looked to one another had the situation not been so serious.

She stared at the man for a moment, and then wondered how she'd managed to forget. That was Hoenheim all right. She noticed things that she hadn't remembered from her childhood- a few grey hairs among the blonde, a few wrinkles in the tanned face, a new weariness to the way he carried himself, but it was definitely Hoenheim. And yet...

"Mr Elric?" she asked, cautiously, not entirely sure it was really him.

Because Hoenheim Elric was not this kindly, scholarly-looking man. Hoenheim Elric was a monster that had run off on his wife and kids while they were still recovering from a tragic accident- abandoning a sickly woman and a disabled child and taking their only income with him. The years had painted a bleak picture of this man in her mind as she watched the hardships her close friends went through, because of him, all because of him. The image of a family friend had been replaced by some kind of warped demon as she heard how much Edward and Envy complained about him, how bitterly they reacted when he didn't even show at his wife's funeral, when he didn't even bother to send a few measly pounds to pay for food and shelter when his boys were left parentless and alone.

"Sarah?" asked Hoenheim, puzzled. "Oh! No, I'm sorry Winry, I apologise, it's just you look so much like your mother... how is she? And your father, too?"

"Ah... she... Mum and Dad died, Mr Elric. In an accidental shooting. The shooter was a policeman, Roy Mustang, aiming at a criminal, but... he missed, and..." she trailed off.

A sad look crossed the man's face. "Ah... I'm sorry. It seems I've missed... quite a few deaths..."

There was an awkward silence nobody seemed willing to break, until Hoenheim smiled widely once more.

"Well, I suppose you'd best have a look at Edward's wheelchair, hm?"

Winry blinked, and nodded. She turned to Edward, and studied his chair critically.

"All right, that doesn't look too bad. Come on, Ed," she said, pulling his one arm other her shoulders and hoisting him upright, balancing precariously on one leg, nearly toppling Winry over.

"Geez Ed, careful! Oof, you're heavy for such a little guy..."

Ed's face darkened. "_Who're you calling so short he couldn't even be run over by his own wheelchair?!"_ he yelled angrily, nearly sending them to the floor once more. Envy rolled his eyes and caught hold of the back of Ed's shirt before they hit the ground.

"You, Pipsqueak. Stop leaning on your girlfriend already and sit down."

Both Edward and Winry shot Envy a dark look, Ed letting go of Winry and grabbing at the table with his arm to hold him steady. "She's not my girlfriend! And you could help, Envy."

Envy grinned. "Do mine ears deceive me? Did you actually not notice the Pipsqueak comment, Eddy?"

Edward growled, and seated himself in a chair by the table. "Shut up. Bother Al."

Envy cocked his head to one side, as if considering this idea. Then he grinned.

"But Al doesn't get all worked up like you. It's about as fun as teasing a suit of armour!"

Al smiled mischeviously. "It's true, brother. You do have a bad temper."

Ed muttered something unintelligible as Hoenheim observed the scene with an amused expression. Winry stood, apparently finished fiddling with the handles of Ed's chair.

"There, all done. I've replaced the handle for you, Ed, it wans't too difficult. Why were you in such a hurry to get it fixed, anyway? Usually you wait ages before calling me when you damage it."

"There's a reason for that," Ed muttered under his breath, eying the wrench she had tucked into her belt. "Al called you, not me." he said with a shrug.

Winry rolled her eyes. "Well, anyway, what happened? Al said someone shot at you, Ed." she said accusingly. "I let you off with not telling me the full story earlier, but if you think you're getting away with it now, you've got another think coming!"

Ed bit his lip and looked away from her. "I can't, Winry... I don't want you to get in any danger because of us..."

"Edward, you had better tell me _right now_ or else I swear I'll-"

It was Hoenheim who stepped in to save Edward from his mechanic's wrath. "Winry... Edward is right. I'm afraid it is too dangerous. That is why we will be leaving here tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Edward said, surprised. "But-"

"Tomorrow! And you didn't tell me? Edward Elric, you inconsiderate- ugh, bloody science geek!"

"Car junkie!"

"Chemistry freak!"

"Mechanic nerd! Anyway, I didn't even know we were going, so don't yell at me." Ed said grumpily.

"You didn't?"

"No!" said Edward, frustrated. "So stop yelling at me already! And if you're finished with my chair, then can you help me back into it?"

"Envy, help your brother. So, wait, where are you guys going?"

Envy scowled as he unceremoniously tugged Ed out of his seat and dropped him ungraciously in the wheelchair. Edward scowled right back, before turning to Winry to answer her.

"I don't know, and I couldn't tell you if I did. The old bastard said so, didn't he? It's too dangerous."

She raised her wrench threateningly. "Edward Elric, you tell me right now or-"

"Winry, please," said Hoenheim, "Edward would tell you if he could. Thank you for coming to straighten out his wheelchair... how much...?"

"It was just the handle broken, so that's... £15. And fifty pence for being an annoying pipsqueak."

Edward shot her a nasty glare, but held his tongue- it was not unheard of for Winry to up her prices by up to £20 if he began a short rant.

Winry pocketed the money Hoenheim gave her, and picked up her toolbox. Suddenly, she paused, a thoughtful frown on her face.

"Hey... where you're going... it's dangerous, right? You said so yourself."

Ed nodded, not sure where this was going.

"And Ed... I know you think the wheelchair's kind of awkward..."

Edward held up his hands in protest. "No, Winry, it's fine, really-!"

"Quiet, Ed. Listen. Ever since... ever since the accident, Ed, Granny and I have been working on something special, just for you. It's not finished, and it's untested, but..." she looked down.

"Winry, what are you talking about?" asked Ed, cautiously.

Winry looked indecisive, uncertain.

"Moving prosthetics. Metal limbs that move like the real thing. Granny calls it automail." she broke off, trying to word the next sentence. "They've made them before, but... they were very limited. We wanted to make ones that really worked, Ed. For- for you."

Ed gaped. Alphonse looked at Winry with wide eyes. Even Envy seemed shocked.

"You- you mean- a replacement arm and leg? Actual moving prosthetics?" Ed was wide-eyed, disbelief evident in his voice- and hope. Al silently tried to remember the last time he'd seen Ed look like that.

Winry nodded. "We- we've never tested them, Ed. They're not perfect- they're heavy, and you won't be able to use them properly for a year and a half, but- they're probably the closest thing to a real arm and leg you're going to get."

"How do they work?" Ed asked, still not quite believing it.

Winry winced, biting her lip.

"They're wired directly to your nerves. It'll be really painful; Ed- Granny said it'd probably make hardened war heroes scream- and it'll take ages to get used to, maybe even eighteen months, like I said. It's risky- we don't know if it'll work, but... Granny said a little while ago that she thought it was ready for use. We were going to be working on it for another six months, but if you're going off to do this dangerous thing, then- even if you won't be able to use it for a while, it might make things easier..."

Ed's eyes were wide. He swallowed.

"I could really- there's a chance I could be back to how I was?"

Winry nodded.

"I'll do it. I'll do it. I don't care about the risks, if you think it's safe, then I'll take it."

"Ed, are you-" began Alphonse, but Ed silenced him with a fierce glare.

"I can't stand this damn wheelchair anymore, Al. If there's a way to get rid of it, I'm damn well going to take it."

Envy raised an eyebrow. "Even I think this might not be-"

"Shut up! I said I'll do it already, Envy! I don't want this damn chair! I don't want to live my goddamned life like this anymore!" Ed yelled furiously.

More quietly, he continued; "I can't stand this. I can't even get out of my bloody chair by myself. Do you know how embarrassing it is at school, to have to have somebody take you to the goddamned toilet because I can't stand up properly when I go? To have to get my food chopped up for me? All those pitying looks in the street? I can't even do up my own damn buttons, Envy. I can't write without the paper slipping all over the place because I can't hold it still and use the pen with only one hand. I can't even walk. I hate it. I hate it."

Envy was silent. Al was staring at his older brother anxiously, not knowing whether he ought to reach out and comfort him, or whether Ed would just push him away.

"Ed- you- I didn't know. I didn't know." Winry said, obviously regretting not having told him sooner.

"Brother-" Al began, breaking off, unsure of what to say to his brother, who now looked achingly fragile- a tiny, incomplete form, sat hunched over in a wheelchair too big for him.

"Pipsqu- Ed, you never told us-" Envy began, only to be interrupted by Ed.

"Well it's true, okay? Here, in this house, we've got those bloody handrails all over the place for me to haul myself around the place if I have to get out of my chair. But at school, at the shops, anywhere- they don't have that. Here, we always end up eating soup or finger food or something- I never really have to chop it up, and when I do, you know to do it for me, but anywhere else- I have to turn and ask the person next to me to cut up my dinner. It's so bloody embarrassing! And I have to get a helper to hold me upright in the bloody bathroom. It drives me mad! I want- I want to get this automail stuff, or whatever it's called. Moving prosthetics- I wouldn't have to rely on people. We could take down the handrails. You could cook things that require more than one utensil to eat without having to worry about me. People would stop treating me like a- like a cripple."

Nobody had anything to say to that. The silence was long, before it was finally broken by Winry.

"Ed- I'm going to get Granny to prepare them for you, okay? You won't be able to leave tomorrow, though- you'll have at least two weeks before you can go. I'll call you when you need to come over, okay?"

Ed just nodded. Winry left the house, and Ed immediately wheeled himself back to his room. Alphonse made to go after him, but Envy wordlessly held him back- Edward, he knew, would want to be alone for now.

* * *

_Okay, just so you know: Automail, I know, takes three years to get used to, and Ed cut that down to one. However, if I do that, he won't be able to use it soon enough for it to become useful. So. Automail in this story takes one and a half years to get used to, and Ed manages to push himself to using it in a few months. _


	13. Automail

_Writing about automail installation is not fun. I feel sorry for Edward... Also, Sin Of Tragedy mentioned that this was Edvy paired, and wanted to know whether this was brotherly love or something more. I've already answered that question, but just in case anyone else was wondering: it's all brotherly love. The only romantic pairings in this fic will be onesided DantexHoenheim and TrishaxHoenheim (I think).  
_

_I own nothing. Oh, warning for lots of swearing in this chapter._

**Chapter Thirteen: Automail**

Ed was sat on a dining chair in Granny Pinako's kitchen, apprehensive about the procedure he was about to undergo. Beside him, Al reached over and squeezed his hand. Had he not been so nervous, he would've chuckled- Al always did know how to read his mind.

Pinako was setting up the other room for the operation. Apparently, Ed was not allowed numbing drugs, as they could prevent the nerves from connecting properly. He flinched mentally, and began to wonder if he was insane for going through with this.

"Okay, Ed, we're ready for you. Envy, bring him in, please."

Envy had volunteered to help out, to everyone's surprise. He had grumpily complained that the sooner the pipsqueak stopped relying on him for everything, the better, but nobody had really believed him, and Al had smiled that secret smile of his that meant he thought it was sweet that that Envy cared about his little brother.

Envy pulled Ed's arm over his shoulders, and hooked his hand underneath Ed's leg, lifting the smaller boy into the air. He carried Ed through to the other room, and placed him on the bed-come-operating table Granny had prepared.

The two metal limbs gleamed on a nearby table. Granny carefully checked over the stumps where Ed's limbs had been amputated.

"They did a good clean job," she said approvingly. She had been a nurse during World War II, and seen her fair share of amputees, so she knew what she was talking about. "Okay now Ed, for this part of the operation, we can knock you out. It's only the ports that you need to be awake for. Winry, come and help me over here. Envy, if you feel squeamish, get the hell out of here, because I'm not having you contaminating my workroom by being sick all over the place." she said. Envy nodded.

"Alright Ed... just let the drugs take effect, that's it. That's it..."

Once Ed was knocked out, she set to the grisly job of reopening the wound. She didn't actually have to open it completely, thankfully- just where the automail would be connected, and where the foundations of the port needed to be attached. She carefully bolted the port foundation to Ed's scapula, clavicle and some of his ribs in order to be ready to proceed later.

"Winry, make sure all the nerve connectors are ready. We'll need them as soon as he wakes up."

Winry nodded, pale-faced. Envy was looking rather ill.

"Help me with his leg, Winry." commanded Pinako, in a voice that boded no argument of any kind. Winry flinched, and nodded.

They repeated the process for Ed's leg, attaching the metal to Ed's femur, and then carefully cleaning the wound- it wouldn't do for the ports to get infected. Port foundations done, she bandaged them carefully to stop the bleeding until Ed woke up, sore and aching in his leg and shoulder.

_Then_ came the worst part.

"Winry, fetch Ed something to bite down on. Ed, I need you to relax as much as you can- if you tense up, this will hurt more, understand? Envy... if you don't think you can take it, get out right away."

Ed took the leather pad offered by Winry and placed it in his mouth, taking care to ensure his tongue was well out of the way. Then Pinako took the first nerve connector, shimmering copper in the harsh light, and unwound his bandages.

Ed winced- and then Pinako held the nerve connector up to his wound, and she attached it.

Ed clenched his teeth so tightly on the leather pad he was surprised he hadn't bitten right through. A strangled choke left his mouth and he gasped, arching his back as a fiery pain raced through his body. He clenched his fist so hard he could feel his short nails cutting into his palm, and his teeth were starting to hurt from the force he was gritting them together with. Sweat was soaking him, his breathing was ragged, and _god, dear god, dear fucking god it hurt it hurt-_

And then the next nerve was attached, almost ruthlessly, giving him no chance to recover, and the pain raced through him. It was like an electric shock, a roaring fire, an erupting volcano. He hissed loudly around the leather pad and kept his eyes tightly shut against the white light that flashed in font of his eyes every time a nerve was-

Another one. Hell, hell, _hell_. He knew why Pinako wasn't waiting- she wanted to get it done with quickly- but _fucking_ _hell_ it was painful. It was agony.

The radial, median and ulnar nerves had been attached, thought Pinako, picking up the last one. The sciatic nerve was all that remained.

She had to admit, she was impressed. Ed had not cried out once. She picked up the last connector-

-_pain, pain, pain_, that was all Ed could think at that moment. He had known it would hurt, had been told it would hurt, but... hell. It had been absolute hell. And- he flinched- it wasn't even done yet.

The burning feeling and his racing pulse slowly faded, although he was still tingling, still aching. The nerves of the ports were connected now, and all that remained was to attach the rest of the port to the foundations, a simple and relatively painless process. Ed lay back, panting, as Granny Pinako and Winry screwed the rest of the ports onto his shoulder and leg. He glanced over to Envy, who looked torn between shocked, ill and impressed.

Ed opened his mouth, letting the pad fall to his lap.

Tooth-marks marred the dark tan surface, and Ed could see two jagged holes, punched right through the thick leather.

* * *

After the ports were installed, Ed was bandaged up and allowed to sleep before having the actual limbs were attached, much to his relief. As soon as Al laid eyes on his brother- bandaged, sweating, pale and grey in the face, struggling a little for breath- he had begun to fuss over him, having him put to bed and staying beside him with a cold cloth for his forehead, and a supply of painkillers. Envy was sent scurrying off to the shops- Alphonse was _scary_ when he wanted to be- for Ed's favourite food, Winry was forbidden from bringing wrenches within ten meters of him and Hoenheim was politely but firmly told to stay out because 'you make him agitated. Sorry, Dad.'

Al had not sounded sorry in the least.

Envy chuckled- once he was sure that the younger boy wouldn't yell at him for it- at the way the kid was taking care of his brother. The younger Elrics were just as stubborn as each other, and they both had equally fierce tempers, although Ed's was admittedly shorter.

"Mother hen," he teased Al good-naturedly when bringing up his dinner. Al just scowled at him.

When Ed awoke, Al refused to allow him to do anything too strenuous. It was another full day before Al would allow them to attach the automail.

And so once again, Ed found himself in the brightly-lit makeshift operating theatre, sat on the same trundle bed, with a new leather pad between his teeth. Winry held up the metal arm.

"Here we go, Ed. Brace yourself..."

She slotted the arm into the port, carefully aligning the metal nerves to the shining copper connectors in Ed's port. Once she was sure it was in the right place, she waited for Granny Pinako to get the leg in the right position, and waited for Envy's count.

"Three- two- one- okay, connect." said Envy, and the two Rockbells pushed the automail limbs into their correct places as one. Ed gave a pained gasp, biting down on his pad and arching his head back with his eyes tight shut- but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as connecting the nerves had been, and for that he was thankful. Still, he felt a rush of electricity race painfully though the newly-connected nerves as they were agitated by the false limbs sliding into place.

Both new limbs ached at the ports, and felt heavy and cumbersome- two metal dead weights. Since he couldn't use them yet, that was all they were- useless metal lumps that were wired into his nerves. But he was determined to learn how to move them- he wanted to walk again, and this might be the only chance he ever got.

Envy hoisted him back into his wheelchair, moaning at the weight of both Ed and his new metal limbs. Ed stared at the limp, unresponsive metal, still feeling the tingling pain running through his body, and wondered if it would be worth it.

* * *

_...Ouch._


	14. On the Run

_Hello again. Just a quick message: I may not be able to finish tomorrow's chapter on time as I have a school event which I must attend. If all goes well, you'll get the chapter tomorrow as usual, but don't be too surprised if you get it on wednesday instead. I'm sorry about that, but it's out of my control._

_I own nothing._

**Chapter Fourteen: On the Run**

Edward rolled his right shoulder, the heavy metal arm clanking as it was pulled around. Winry said that it should stimulate the nerve connectors, and that gradually, he would be able to move more and more of the metal limbs.

Winry had also said not to try it for at least a week and to take it slowly- but Edward was doing anything but.

As soon as he got the chance, he had started the exercises she'd told him to try, lifting his left leg up and watching the shining steel limb follow it, jerking his shoulder and making the arm clink loudly at the elbow. Envy found the constant tink-tink of metal on metal infuriating, but said nothing, knowing that Ed would ignore him, and not having the heart to put his half-brother down when he finally had hope. Al scolded Ed for overworking himself, but Ed just scowled at him, and insisted he would be fine. Hoenheim tried to insist that Ed stop- but Ed was still not well-disposed towards his father, and being told to stop only made him more determined to continue.

_Clunk._ Envy grit his teeth. _Clunk._

Envy shut his eyes, and began to count, slowly. _One, two, three, four, five..._

_**Clunk**_**.**

Envy growled and began searching through his bag for his CD player, slipping the headphones into his ears and turning up the volume as much as possible to drown out the clanking noise.

They were in a hired car- Hoenheim's would be recognised, as would Envy's- and driving as quickly as possible away from their old home. Hoenheim's plan was simple: Run away, change names, start new life somewhere. Somehow Envy doubted it would be that easy, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

Edward lifted his automail up with his right arm, carefully flexing the joints as Winry had instructed him to. He knew he wouldn't be able to move it yet, but the more he stimulated the wire nerves within the prosthetic, the sooner it would adapt to his body, and the sooner he'd be able to move it. It was surprisingly heavy, but he found it pretty easy to ignore. Less easy to overlook was the slight pain that he still felt deep within him, an icy ache throughout his body left over from the surgery, or the twinge every time his automail shifted in the ports. Nonetheless, he continued to move it, hoping to beat Winry's estimated rehab time of one and a half years.

Alphonse had fallen asleep, and the car was full of an awkward silence, interrupted only by the tinny music coming from Envy's headphones, the low hum of the engine and the clink of Edward's automail.

It was night time when Hoenheim pulled up outside a hotel. He opened the boot of the car and pulled out Edward's wheelchair, engine removed, seat carefully folded in on itself. Once he had set up the chair, he pulled the engine out too, and carefully reattached it. Winry and Pinako had designed the removable engine purely for this purpose: to make it collapsible so that it could be transported in a car.

Wheelchair fully constructed, he opened the car door and lifted his son out and into the chair, wrapping the blanket around the blonde boy in such a way as to hide the two metal limbs from view. To any observer, Edward would appear to be a perfectly ordinary, albeit disabled, boy. Envy followed him out of the car and stretched his aching muscles: long car journeys always left him cramped and tired.

Hoenheim frowned a little at the sleeping Alphonse, and then, with a sigh, carefully lifted him, trying not to wake him. With difficulty, he managed to lock the car door without waking the dozing child, and signalled to Envy to grab their suitcases. The smaller bags were hung from the handles of Ed's wheelchair, and they made their way into the lobby of the hotel without any further incident.

They communicated to the receptionist through whispers and mime, Alphonse occasionally shifting or muttering in his sleep, and were directed to a room on the first floor. Edward managed to keep his temper in check and even gave a convincingly sweet smile when he was called 'a little cutie' by the young brown-haired woman, knowing that yelling at her would only get them kicked out and they'd end up having to spend the night in the car- not an appealing prospect.

Once they reached their room, Hoenheim tucked Al into bed disturbing him as little as possible, and helped Edward get changed without tangling his clothes around his metal limbs. Edward hauled himself into bed on his own, refusing any further help from his father, and wriggled uncomfortably until he found a position where he would not have to lie on his automail. Envy changed quickly and got into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Hoenheim stayed awake, sitting by the door to their room. He had agreed to take the first watch that night, just in case they had been followed.

But eventually, Hoenheim yawned, and shut his eyes, drifting into a dreamless doze. Nobody came to interrupt the slumbering Elrics, and they slept on, unaware that they had, indeed, been followed.


	15. Narrow Escape

_W__ell, what do you know? I finished it on time after all. In case yu're wandering, the school thing went okay, I think, but I won't know until my techer tells me, which won't be for a while yet. I'm nervous now._

_Anyway, here's chapter fifteen. Wow... I can't actually believe it's been fifteen chapters already. Especially considereing I've only ever written oneshots before... heh. _

_I own nothing._

**Chapter Fifteen: Narrow Escape**

Dante was waiting impatiently outside a small, rather dreary-looking hotel. It was a dull building, an ugly, sprawling three-story monstrosity. Somebody had evidently put a lot of effort into making it look 'quaint' and 'picturesque'- but it ended up resembling a box with ridiculous decorations glued all over it. The stone it was built of had been 'weathered' manually to make it appear old. Curly gothic architecture had been unceremoniously dumped around the front doors and the windows. Ugly statues guarded the entrance, and wilting climbing plants clung to the walls. In ridiculously ornate (and hard to read) lettering over the sliding glass automatic door, a sign read 'Grand Oak Hotel'. A stump poking out of the tarmac in the car park hinted suspiciously at the Grand Oak having been cut down long ago.

This was the hotel in which the Elrics had spent the night, and Dante was now waiting for them to leave it.

When Hoenheim had fled, she had flung herself into a rage. She _wanted_ Hoenheim, and damnit, what she wanted, she got- and if she couldn't have it, well, nobody else could either. She wasn't entirely sure she even loved him anymore- all she knew was that he had said no, and that _nobody_ said no to her.

She smiled maliciously. _If I cannot possess it,_ she thought, _then I will destroy it. Goodbye, Hoenheim._

* * *

Edward had been awake for some time- his automail pains had woken him, and he had managed to get himself into his wheelchair without waking any of the others. Absent-mindedly performing the automail exercises, he pulled his blanket over the conspicuous metal limbs, and manoeuvred his chair over to Al's bed.

"Al," he said. "Al, wake up, would you? They're going to stop serving breakfast soon."

"Mmmph. It's too early, Ed." Al replied. Ed snorted.

"Wake up, Al. Come on, I can't go on my own, I need..." he paused, and looked away fom his brother for a moment.

"I need you to cut up my food for me." he muttered embarrassedly.

"Get 'Nvy to do it." mumbled Al. "Ed, 'm tired. I woke up in the middle of the night, I wanna go to sleep now. Please?"

Ed scowled. Suddenly, he noticed the glass of water by Al's bed.

He grabbed it, and held it over Al's head. Al, eyes closed, did not notice.

"Mm? Ed, wha' you doing?"

Ed tipped the glass over Al's head, and the younger boy shot upright with a yell.

"ED!"

"Sorry, Al, my hand slipped. You're up, let's get breakfast."

"Brother, you tipped water on my head!"

"Yes. Now can we please go and get something to eat?"

It was at this point that both boys became aware that they had woken their father and older brother, as the first was watching them in mild amusement and the latter was glaring.

"...Uh, morning, Dad, Envy..." greeted Alphonse sheepishly.

"Hi Bastard, Envy." said Edward, tetchily. "Can we go for breakfast yet?"

Envy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, c'mon, Pipsqueak. Let's go."

"Not a pipsqueak, damnit..." grumbled Ed. Envy stopped in his tracks, and blinked.

"Uh... Ed, are you feeling okay?" he asked, bemused by the lack of screaming.

Ed glared irritably. "I'm tired. And my arm and leg hurt. And I'm hungry. Can we go?"

Al made a concerned face. "Ed, what's wrong? Envy called you a pipsqueak but you didn't even raise your voice..."

Ed gave each of them a poisonous look. "I said I'm _fine_. Now can we please go?"

Envy raised an eyebrow, but nodded, opening the door to let them out of the room. Al and Hoenheim stayed behind for a moment.

"Dad? What do you think is wrong with brother?" he asked, uncertainly.

Hoenheim did not respond, at first, but then he sighed and answered.

"Your brother woke at three o' clock in the morning, because of pain in his automail ports, Alphonse," said Hoenheim quietly. "He was sobbing. It would not surprise me if that was the reason for his subdued reaction to Envy's jibe."

Al's eyes widened, and he bit his lip. "Ed was... sobbing?"

Hoenheim nodded. "The automail is a terrible strain on him, Alphonse. It must be painful..." he broke off. "Let's go to breakfast. Some food will do us all good."

* * *

Dante hissed in anger. "Well?" she demanded petulantly, turning to Lust.

Lust would've rolled her eyes, but it was unwise to upset Dante when she was in this mood.

"The middle Elric is ill. I don't know what he's got, but it's got something to do with ports and automail and is apparently very painful."

"Ports? Automail? What's that?" asked Dante, frowning. Lust shrugged.

"I don't know. He's also wrapped up in a blanket from head to toe."

"Hmph. And the younger Elric? And my son?"

"Both are well, but seem concerned for the Edward boy."

"And Hoenheim?" asked Dante, voice dangerously soft and sweet.

Lust shrugged. "He is fine."

"Hmph." sniffed Dante. "Get into position. I want him dead- I want all of them dead." she stopped to consider this. "No, not Envy. Don't kill Envy unless you have to."

"Yes, Dante." said Lust. Beside her, Gluttony shifted uncomfortably.

"Can I eat them, Lust?" he asked softly.

"No, Gluttony," said Lust, long since used to the familiar, yet still disturbing, question. "You cannot."

* * *

Edward had not said a word throughout breakfast, but had eaten considerably more than normal. Al wondered if the automail had anything to do with Ed's increased appetite, but thought it better not to ask.

Edward knew that the pain in his ports was his own fault. He had been the one to insist upon exercising the automail even though Winry warned him to give it time to rest. Still, he wasn't going to stop. He needed to learn how to use it, and he had to do it fast- one and a half years was far too long. If he worked hard enough, he was sure he could beat Winry's estimates.

Breakfast finished, Hoenheim checked them out of the hotel. Not one of them said a word about the fake name on his credit card- Matthew Kirk- and it was accepted without question, the receptionist smiling brightly and thanking them for staying. They left the hotel and stepped out into glaring sunshine.

They were crossing the car park when a shot was fired just a little way over Edward's head, shattering the peaceful morning like a dropped glass.

* * *

Lust and Gluttony stepped out of the shadows of the building, Lust still holding the weapon aloft. The Elrics had stopped dead in shock, snapping out of it only to find that they were almost completely surrounded. Greed was stood in front of them, stopping them from reaching their car, Wrath and Sloth to their left and Pride to their right. They had nowhere to go.

"Good morning," she said in a low voice. "And goodbye."

She fired another shot at the blonde boy -Edward?- but he apparently was a little smarter than she'd expected because he ducked his head down immediately and it hit the back of the wheelchair instead. The other two boys dropped into defensive crouches, prepared to hit the floor should another bullet be aimed towards them. Hoenheim was standing protectively in front of the biggest and most obvious target of their little group- wheelchair-bound Edward. She aimed again quickly and fired, but failed to hit anything.

"Gluttony," she said softly, "Go for the younger blonde boy. Leave Dante's kid alone."

Gluttony looked up at her with oddly blank eyes. "Dante?" he questioned.

"The kid with green hair. Leave the kid with green hair alone." she said irritably, wishing her partner was not quite so dim. Gluttony nodded happily and lurched into battle towards the sandy-haired child, who, surprisingly, slammed a foot straight into his stomach with an ease that suggested combat training of some kind. Perhaps this would be a little more of a challenge than she had first thought...

* * *

Edward silently cursed his wheelchair, his inability to work his metal limbs, the car crash and anything else he could think of. He was almost totally useless in this situation, he thought, watching Alphonse slam a kick into the little fat man's- Gluttony, was it?- stomach. All three of the boys had learnt to fight when they were younger- a local butcher, Izumi Curtis, had started a class- but he held doubts over how well these skills would hold up against guns. Spotting the woman who looked painfully like his mother sneaking up behind Hoenheim, he swallowed his doubts and kicked the wheelchair into action, taking her by surprise and knocking her to the floor. The black-haired boy beside her flew into a rage at this, but Envy knocked him out with a well-aimed punch.

_One down,_ thought Edward, _five to go._

Envy smirked at him before whirling off to confront the man with sunglasses and oddly spiky teeth, while Al fended off Gluttony. Edward aimed a careful kick at the Trisha Elric lookalike's head to knock her out, trying to ignore the stab from his conscience, and narrowly missed being shot by the Lust woman. _Damnit, why are they shooting at __**me**__? _he thought to himself angrily.

Alphonse backed away from the short fat man a little, only to feel a sharp pain as a bullet grazed his upper arm. He heard an enraged shout from Edward and blinked as a blonde blur in a wheelchair bowled towards the Lust woman, who was caught off guard and only just managed to get out of the way in time, although she dropped her gun in the process. Edward leant out of his chair a little and swept it up with a crow of triumph. The woman looked as though she might curse, but regained her composure at the last minute.

He tore his attention away from the scene to aim another kick at Gluttony, holding onto his injured arm with his left hand and hissing slightly at the pain. Finally, he managed to put Gluttony out of commission with a blow to the back of the head.

Envy knocked the spiky-haired man's sunglasses off with a punch, grinning. Spiky-hair didn't really seem to be trying to hurt him though, which bothered him. They seemed perfectly happy to try and shoot everyone else, so why were they going easy on him? He leapt backwards just in time to avoid a nasty punch from Spiky, who grinned at him.

"Not bad, kid." Spiky smirked. Envy scowled and aimed a high kick at his head.

* * *

Greed was mildly impressed. He would not have expected any of them to actually know how to fight, but they were doing pretty well, all things considered. Although he was pissed about his sunglasses.

He glanced over to Lust, and was torn between laughing at his less-than-composed associate and frowning at the fact that she was losing. The blondie in the chair had somehow managed to get her gun off her, which wasn't good. And Sloth, Gluttony and Wrath were all out for the count, while Pride was currently up against Hoenheim. At least _that_ looked like a battle they might win- Hoenheim was a fairly competent fighter, but apparently he was not equipped to deal with Pride's swords.

He nearly swore as he dodged a kick at his head, and then he managed to land a punch on his opponent's stomach, smirking at the pain that crossed the teenager's face before it was replaced with anger. The teen lunged at him, and he side-stepped neatly.

"You can do better than that, right kid? I'm getting bored here." he smirked. Envy snarled.

* * *

Lust frowned when the young Elric snatched her gun up, only to feel mild relief when she realised he had no intention of trying to use it. _Probably doesn't know how to,_ she thought. Still, this meant she had no other option than hand-to-hand fighting to get it back.

Damn, but the little bugger was fast. She cursed that damn wheelchair of his- he never seemed to be in the same place she was aiming at. After a few false starts though, she managed a stoke of luck- she had caught Edward around the face, momentarily stopping him and providing her with all the distraction she needed to snatch the gun back. The boy was still wrapped in his blanket, she noticed. How strange.

However, she did not mull over the oddities of the blonde-haired boy any further, instead choosing to draw back, gun in hand. She fired a careful shot at Ed's chair, smirking as it hit the wheel, causing the boy to curse loudly. While he was trying to get his chair to move properly again, she aimed another shot- once that bloody chair was out of the way, Edward would be an easy target.

She didn't totally miss- she did hit Edward's chair, and it was fairly certain that it wouldn't be going anywhere after that. But she hadn't been aiming for that particular spot...

Lust had hit the engine. She saw the blonde's eyes widen as he threw himself out of the chair, and she barely registered the flash of silver before her attention was attracted by the smoke pouring from the chair. By the time she returned her attention to him, whatever the silver thing had been was once more covered under the blanket he had dragged off the chair with him as he pulled himself away from the smoking chair clumsily. He made it just in time, too- the damaged engine suddenly burst into flames as soon as he was a safe distance away.

Lust cursed as the Envy boy took advantage of the distraction to get Greed firmly in the back of the head, and Hoenheim tripped the sidetracked Pride, sending him tumbling to the ground. Envy swooped down on Edward, scooping him up, and the Elrics made a run for their car before she could react. By the time she managed to get a hold of herself long enough to fire, they were in the car, and Lust knew that they had just lost this fight.

_Damn,_ she thought. _Dante is not going to be happy._

* * *

_I don't like this chapter. It feels... wrong. I'm going to go back to it and try to figure out why it annoys me later. It might just be that the fight scene is weird... ugh, I hate the fight scene. Still, I'm relatively happy with how it's turned out, although it feels a little hasty to me. Comments?  
_


	16. Disguises

_This story now has fifty reviews! I'm rather pleased about that. Thank you! _

_I own nothing._

**Chapter Sixteen: Disguises**

It had been three weeks since the hotel incident.

At first, Edward had had to be carried, but he could now manage a few rather shaky steps for about ten minutes or so. Hoenheim was grateful for this, as it made it easier for them to hide- but he was also concerned for Edward. The boy was working himself much too hard, that much was obvious: the places where metal met flesh were red and sore, he exhausted himself quickly and although he tried to hide it, Hoenheim knew that his middle son was coughing up blood whenever he stressed himself particularly hard. There was little he could do, though; Edward was too stubborn to accept his advice.

They had abandoned their car and hired another, this time using Hoenheim's fake name of Matthew Kirk. They had managed to avoid Dante and her associates so far, but Hoenheim knew they couldn't be very far behind. They were passing through a small town when he heard news that somebody had been asking about the Elrics, and it was at that point that he decided they needed to disguise themselves somehow.

Hoenheim bought a few boxes of black hair dye and one of brown. New clothes were bought from charity shops and he even found a pair of fake glasses. They gave Al the brown dye, while Ed and Hoenheim turned theirs black; Envy begrudgingly washed the styling products out of his hair leaving it oddly unspiked and almost knee-length. Ed put his now black hair into a ponytail while Envy braided his green locks. It had a rather odd effect on his appearance, and Envy was not happy in the least.

The fake glasses were given to Ed, who wore long sleeves and a pair of white gloves to cover his arm. They had also found a pair of leather trousers, a black top and black jacket that fitted him, while for Envy they had picked out a rather obscure rock band t-shirt and dark jeans with spiky jewellery that covered up far more of him than his favourite crop-top and skort. Alphonse was dressed in a short-sleeved white shirt and jeans, and Hoenheim had found a dark blue woollen jumper, a white shirt and a pair of plain black trousers. He even (unwillingly) shaved, leaving him strangely bare-faced.

Once they were satisfied that they looked different enough from their usual selves, they moved on quickly, not wanting to remain in the town any longer than they had to. They made an odd group: Limping Edward with every inch of flesh below his neck covered in all-black clothes and green-haired Envy, travelling with the bright and cheerful-looking Al and fatherly Hoenheim.

They had one advantage, at least: Dante and her followers would be looking for four people; three with blonde hair (one with only two limbs), and the last a teenage boy who dressed like a girl with long spiky green hair. Now, not one of them was blonde, and Envy, although very androgynous, was dressed very much like a boy. And Edward _clearly_ had all four limbs, even though he walked rather strangely.

Still, thought Hoenheim, it's only a matter of time. It would be nice to believe that they could run away and live as the Kirk family and never be bothered by Dante again, but Hoenheim knew better than to hope that might be possible.

Eventually, they would have to face Dante. He hoped they would be ready when they did.


	17. The Beginning of the End

_This chapter is a nice little pause for breath, because after this, I've got one hell of an action scene to write for you. I am dreading it, but I shall do my best, because you are all lovely and deserve it. Wish me luck!  
_

_I own nothing._

**Chapter Seventeen: The Beginning of the End**

Ed scowled as he limped after his father and brothers. He wished there was some kind of rewind button on his life- to go back, before his father had come home, before somebody decided they wanted him dead, before... before his mother died, before the accident... before, before, before. People said you shouldn't live in the past, but it looked a hell of a lot more inviting than the present.

He was snapped out of his brooding when they came to a halt at the edge of the field they were tramping though. They had been doing this every night, lately- finding some random place in the middle of nowhere, and then camping out there at night. Hoenheim set up their tent- although it wasn't much of one, far too small for four people- and Envy got to work getting their little camp stove working. It was quickly becoming routine- and yet still, everyone was on edge, and the slightest of noises could have them up in arms, refusing to sleep. The past few weeks without any activity from Dante or her gang were rapidly making them paranoid. It was as if even when she wasn't anywhere near them, she couldn't stop screwing with them. It drove Ed mad.

They did not talk very much in the evenings. In the daytime, they bickered back and forth constantly, but at night, the threat of Dante and her gang seemed much more _real_, somehow. With the summer sunshine beating down, it was easy to forget that they were running from a group of murderers out for their hides- at night, it was all too easy to remember.

Envy quietly cooked something- Ed wasn't sure what- over the camp stove, and Hoenheim had finished setting the tent up and had rolled out their sleeping bags inside. Ed and Al, with nothing else to do, lay back and looked up at the stars. It reminded Ed of when they were little, and their Mum had taken them out to the park at night, just to see the nigth sky.

The memory brought with it a twinge of guilt and sorrow, so he rolled over onto his side, trying to avoid it. Thankfully, Envy chose this point to decide whatever it was he was cooking was done, and began to serve it up, providing a welcome distraction for the middle Elric. He took the plate and gave what was on it a dubious glance- he still didn't recognise it- but he ate it anyway. At least it tasted good.

They finished their dinner in near-silence and then packed away the little camp stove and crawled into the cramped tent- Hoenheim next to Al, because Al wouldn't deliberately kick him in the night (Ed had done it the first night he'd been told to sleep next to his father. He used his flesh leg, but it still hurt). Ed was next to Al, because no matter what the circumstances might be, Edward was always fiercely protective of _his little brother_, and Envy was next to Ed because Envy didn't give a damn where he slept.

It might have been a summer's night, but it was still cold, and what with the cramped sleeping conditions, it took Envy a while to get to sleep. Beside him, Ed was muttering something incoherent- Ed always did talk in his sleep, especially when he had more _vivid_ dreams. He seemed content, so presumably it wasn't a nightmare. Still, Envy wished his half-brother would just _be quiet._ It seemed no matter what he was doing, Ed just had to make some kind of noise.

Eventually though, he drifted into an odd dream about his mother. It seemed her appearance changed every five seconds, as all Envy really had to base her on was his father's rather sketchy drawing from ages ago- the only consistency between the varying Dantes was that they all had purple eyes and long curly brown hair, and they all smirked in exactly the same way.

* * *

A young woman studied the makeshift campsite as the sun began to rise, a group of six people all dressed in black, behind her. She motioned for them to step back, to wait, and she smiled.

It was not a nice smile. Not in any sense of the word 'nice'.

* * *

They awoke when the sunshine coming through the thin walls of their tent became too bright to ignore, their moods vastly improved from the previous evening. Everything seemed less bleak in the light, and while Ed might grumble about being 'too tired' he was grateful for it really. After all, nightmares only come in the night time.

Right?


	18. Envy's Mother

_A__rgh! I'm sorry it's late, I really am. Forgive me! I have several reasons for the late update, involving the May Ball, flu, and computer problems, but I'm not going to go into detail. To try and make up for it, I tried really hard with this chapter for you all._

_I own nothing. _

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Envy's Mother**

Al left the tent first that morning, and tiptoed out of the tent, doing his best not to tread on Ed, who was awake and pretending not to be, or Hoenheim, who was fast asleep. Once successfully out of the tent, he sat down on the slightly-damp grass, and hummed to himself. He couldn't work the camp stove, he didn't want to get the others out of bed yet, and besides, it was a nice morning. The sun was shining brightly and it was pleasantly warm, with only a few small clouds marring the vast expanse of blue above him.

It was not very long before his eldest brother rose, and grumpily began to set up the camp stove. Al smiled amiably at him and helped him with the pots, knowing that Envy would grouse about having to do the dirty work all morning if he didn't. Hoenheim, hearing his eldest and youngest sons up and about, left the tent and began to lend a hand.

Ed finally stirred. He rubbed his hand on his right shoulder automatically to ease the ache that accompanied moving it.Al raised a disapproving eyebrow at him, and an unspoken reprimand was sent his way for not listening to Winry's advice. Edward ignored it, and began packing the sleeping bags up. They would need to head into town again today for supplies, he thought, glancing at the rather depleted bag that Hoenheim kept their food in.

Ed finished bundling the sleeping bags up, and began to take down the tent with Al's help. Envy was once more preparing food- at first, they had taken turns, but since Hoenheim burnt everything, Ed's metal hand was still not precise enough to risk their lunch on (or that was his excuse) and Alphonse had sheepishly declared he could not work out how to use the camp stove to save his life, the duty had fallen to the surly elder brother. Envy had not protested, mostly because he would rather cook the food himself than eat the charred offerings from the others.

Once everything was packed away they each took their share of the luggage to begin the long trek into town. Envy, lugging the heavy camp stove and pans with him, lagged behind, not paying attention to the chatter between his younger brothers or Hoenheim's occasional comments. He lost himself in his thoughts, idly wondering if they would ever be able to stop living like criminals on the run, constantly hiding behind assumed names and never staying in one place very long.

Envy was unaware that their nomadic lifestyle would come to an end very, very soon.

* * *

Hoenheim, Edward and Alphonse were well ahead of Envy, who had lagged behind so much he was now almost out of sight, when Al drew to a halt, a puzzled and wary expression on his face.

"Ed, Dad," he said, softly, "Stop."

Ed turned, the surprised and questioning expression on his face speaking for him. Al acknowledged the silent query with a hand raised to his ear. "I heard something."

Now both Ed's and Hoenheim's faces were serious, concentrating on listening. Al could hear a breeze sending leaves into a flutter, and birdsong, and what was probably a brook a little way away- and there it was. A rustle, followed by a _click_ that could be nothing other than metal on metal. Al looked at Ed, but his brother shook his head quietly. It wasn't his automail- it was something else.

Ed and Al drew slightly closer to one another, knees slightly bent, arms raised just a little. Not exactly a defensive position, but the intent behind the almost reflexive action was clear- they were on the alert. Behind them, Hoenheim was stood with his eyes scanning the trees, hand already on the gun he had hidden in his pocket, although not yet drawing it.

"You might as well come out," said Edward. His voice was even, but there was a snarl there that indicated that the famous Edward Elric temper was being only just held back.

There was an amused laugh from the bushes, and Dante and her followers stepped out, a smile on Dante's face. It was not a pleasant expression- hungry, cold, and sadistic.

"Why, hello, Hoenheim" she said mockingly, eyes glittering. "It's a _pleasure_ to see you again."

* * *

Envy was silently cursing the weight of the camp stove when he caught sight of his brothers and father up ahead, Ed and Al backed close together warily, Hoenheim's hand reaching for his handgun. Edward said something, looking murderous, and then seven people stepped from the shadows.

Envy dropped the camp stove, staring at the woman at the front of the little group.

He had never seen her before, but he recognised her. His father's drawings of the sins flashed through his mind and he knew exactly who that woman was. Of medium height, with a slim build and long brown curly hair, a smirk disfiguring her face.

At first, all Envy could do was choke. He stared into the face of his mother for the first time in twenty long years, and gagged. That woman- that woman-

She abandoned him. She abandoned him. _She fucking abandoned him._

Envy felt nearly twenty years of loneliness, of jealousy, of hatred and anger all build up, and he choked.

And then, with a strangled snarl, he leapt.

* * *

Envy came from nowhere.

He caught them all completely by surprise, his features twisted into a mask of total hatred. The woman who looked like Trisha had tried to fire at him, but he had been so totally unexpected that the shot went ridiculously wide. Al rushed at the woman- never mind that she looked like his mother, Al had had _enough_. Envy was fine, he could handle Dante by himself, but he might need a hand to divert some of her followers. Al was only too happy to assist.

Ed blinked at the sight of his normally docile brother attacking his mother's twin, but shook the thought from his head and went for the two that were called Lust and Gluttony. Gluttony lumbered towards him, and Ed gave a feral grin as the small, dumpy man came closer.

Edward smirked. Suddenly, Gluttony gave a high-pitched shriek and sank to ground, clutching at the rather important part of his anatomy that Ed had just kicked with his _metal_ foot.

Ed felt momentarily sorry for the man, and put him out of his misery with a steel elbow to the head. Gluttony never knew what hit him (although Ed had his doubts that Gluttony had the brains to know who he was anyway). With the dim bald-headed man unconscious on the ground, Ed charged at Lust, who had managed to get a gun out- but in such a close-range fight, she was having difficulty aiming and firing at him without risking hitting her comrades. She abandoned the gun and resorted to hand-to-hand combat, hoping that Ed's shakiness on his metal limbs would give her some kind of advantage.

Ed's left foot dragged a little as he dodged a bullet, and sure, his right arm wasn't quite up to speed- but that didn't make much of a difference, as far as he was concerned. Aside from the fact that he now had two very solid metal weapons attached to his person, of course.

Lust swallowed and dodged a punch, wondering how in hell she had managed to get herself into this mess.

* * *

Hoenheim fired a shot at Greed, who was advancing on Envy in an attempt to pry him off of Dante. The bullet skimmed his shoulder, and the man hissed and turned to face Hoenheim instead.

He glanced at his sons. Ed had already got one of them down, and Al was doing fine against his two opponents- Trisha's twin and her adoptive son. Envy... well, Envy was not fine at all, but he did appear to be winning, so Hoenheim decided to let him be. King Bradley- probably Pride, he mused- was clearly trying to help Dante somehow, but getting Envy away from the woman would take some doing at this stage.

Her turned his attention back to the fight just in time to dodge Greed's right fist. He considered trying to lift his gun, but in such close quarters it could well do more harm than good, and so he put it back in his pocket, dodging another punch, and turned to face Greed head on.

The other man gave him a sinister sharp-toothed grin while holding his bleeding shoulder with his left hand.

"That _hurt,_" said Greed. Hoenheim ducked.

* * *

"Why?" Ed asked as he dodged Lust's hand. He had already been clawed across the face, and it was an experience he could live without, thank you very much.

"Why what?" asked Lust, trying to scratch him again. Edward brought up his false arm to block.

"Why _this!_" Ed yelled as Lust's nailed glanced off the metal. "What's the point?"

Lust ducked a high kick. "It's nothing personal," she said. "I just want to- get what I want." she said, breaking off halfway through to dodge.

"So why- does that have to- involve beating the crap out of us?" Ed yelled, aiming a punch that missed his intended target but still managed to catch her in the upper arm and avoiding a clawed hand.

"It doesn't" said Lust, gritting her teeth a little as the punch hit her. "It's just- that I have to- have to do what Dante-" she broke off again to escape a nasty kick to her stomach. "-wants." she finished up.

Ed glanced over at Dante when he got an opening. "You mean _that _Dante?" he asked, panting a little, and looking pointedly at the woman who was currently being pounded into the floor by a furious Envy.

Lust looked, and raised an elegant eyebrow. Ed snorted.

The two of them broke off from their fight for a moment, Edward standing warily a little way away from her. Lust sighed.

"She... is a dangerous woman." said Lust, choosing her words carefully.

"And she's not going to win this fight." Edward pointed out.

Lust sighed. "I... I suppose not."

"So why?" Ed asked, wiping blood away from one of the scratches on his face.

For the life of her, Lust could not think of an answer.

* * *

Al avoided a blow from Wrath and barrelled into the woman who apparently called herself Sloth, knocking her backwards.

Sloth's head hit the ground heavily, and the impact knocked her out. Al sighed with relief- until Wrath suddenly appeared in a rage of fury and long black hair.

The boy was screaming something incomprehensible- about his mother, or something- and smashing his fist repeatedly into Al's face as the sandy-haired boy struggled. He aimed a punch at Wrath's face, but Wrath grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the floor above his head, and began to twist it.

"_You hurt my Mummy,_" he said darkly, a half-crazed smile on his face. "Now you'll _pay!"_ he shrieked, and Al cried out as he felt his wrist break.

* * *

Envy was almost blind with rage as he aimed a punch at his mother's face. Dante was better at hand-to-hand than he'd expected- but it made no difference. She was no match for the stored-up anger and violence in the murderous twenty-one year old, and Envy had very quickly taken the advantage. She had shrieked for someone called Pride to help her, and the man with the missing eye attempted to pull Envy away, but with the amount of adrenaline rushing through him he easily evaded the other man and charged at her again, roaring an unintelligible stream of words at her, unsure of what he was saying, just attacking and attacking, over and over again.

"_You abandoned me,"_ he growled, "You left me all by my goddamned self! I grew up watching them, every fucking day watching them and their bloody perfect mother and how much she fucking loved them and all because_ you fucking ABANDONED ME!"_ he screeched. _"You were supposed to be my MOTHER! My __**MOTHER**__!"_ there was something wet on his cheeks and it could've been blood or it could've been sweat- he refused to believe that it could be tears. _**"You were supposed to CARE!"**_

Hoenheim had had a reason, at least. Hoenheim had left because he cared, and no matter how goddamned stupid that idea was, at least he hadn't just gotten sick of them and ran off. At least he was trying to save them, not just get rid of them. This woman- this woman-

_Jealousy, jealousy, watching her gather them into her arms and hold them close, watching her wipe away their tears, watching her kiss their bruises and cuddle them tight, listening to her voice singing lullabies over their cradles at night, seeing her smile, hearing her laughter and knowing it was all for THEM-that THEY were her children, her sons, her angels, and he was just her husband's son, and oh, she cared, yes, and she held him close and sang and cuddled and comforted but she wasn't HIS MOTHER-_

"You BITCH!" he yelled, punching her hard in the face. "You _bitch_..."

Dante, eyes wide and panicked, grabbed at a knife hidden in the sleeve of her dress and slashed at Envy wildly- but to her horror, her hand was slick with sweat and it went flying to the side.

Envy snatched up the knife- and she looked up at him, and felt nothing but terror at this screaming, sobbing demon with wild eyes that she had birthed-

"I HATE YOU!" screamed Envy, and the knife went plunging down.

* * *

Edward ran to help his little brother, and behind him, Lust was at Hoenheim's side defending him from Greed.

In their brief conversation, Lust had revealed that she followed Dante only because she had to- and with Dante obviously fighting a losing battle, there was no longer any point in fighting with her.

Edward had heard Al scream, and without thinking, he pushed Lust towards Hoenheim, yelling at her to help him, and he was racing towards his little brother as fast as his mismatched legs could take him, ignoring his limp and forgetting the awful pain that came from the pressure he had put on his automail. He leapt at the black-haired boy that had just broken his brother's wrist like a vengeful demon and smacked him so hard with his automail fist that the boy went out like a light.

He helped Al to his feet, and the younger boy winced, cradling his broken wrist. Al gave Ed a thankful grin, and the two of them, less panicked now, arrived at Hoenheim's side to help, despite Al's injury.

As it happened, there was no need to- Greed, much like Lust, saw little point in working with Dante if it did not serve his own needs.

There was only one gang member left now, and he didn't stand a chance.

Pride was unconscious in barely a minute. But Envy...

Nobody dared approach Envy as he shrieked his hatred at Dante and snatched up the knife- in the state he was in, they doubted he would be able to differentiate between friend and foe.

"I HATE YOU!" screamed the half-crazed young man, and brought the knife down directly into Dante's stomach.

Envy seemed to freeze as Dante choked, a horror-struck expression on her face. He gave a strangled, desperate yelp- a cross between a shriek and a sob.

Tears were streaming down his face and he had not yet let go of the weapon when he broke out into high, hysterical laughter, breathless and obviously out of his mind. He was nearly screaming, nearly crying, the expression on his face was horrified and scared, and yet he was gagging and choking on his own laughter.

It was Ed who brought him back down to earth, approaching cautiously with arm extended. Gently, he placed it on Envy's hand, and pried his fingers away from the knife, allowing the older boy to collapse against him. Envy seemed unable to do anything but cry, and Edward silently offered him a shoulder to do it on.

Al, clearly horrified, came slowly up towards his brothers and tentatively wrapped his good arm around Envy. Hoenheim, who had been staring in shock at the dead woman who lay bleeding on the ground, seemed unable to do anything- until he finally snapped out of his trance and turned towards his sons.

Envy was still hysterically sobbing, Edward and Alphonse comforting him as best they could. Gingerly, he approached.

He felt useless and unwanted, especially Ed sent him a warning glare to back off. It hurt to think that he was no longer a part of their family, but he knew it was true- they had been all they had through some of the toughest times of their life, and he was unneeded and unwelcome, especially now. And so instead, he found the abandoned bags and spread the groundsheet from their tent over Dante's body before retreating from the scene.

Lust and Greed were of to one side discussing something. Greed helped Lust wake Gluttony, and then they left the area, seeing little point in remaining with the rest of the gang defeated and their leader dead.

Envy allowed himself to be held by Ed and Al, beginning to calm down, although the occasional strangled sob would still make it's way out. His emotions were everywhere, and he didn't know what to think. He'd just killed somebody, but at the same time, that somebody was the woman who'd been trying to kill them, who'd abandoned him, who'd-

_She was your mother._

He gave a startled screech.

_She was your mother._

"No, no, no, no..."

Something said sofly, "It's okay, it's okay..."

He clutched at the source of comfort and felt arms tighten their hold on him, and he let himself sink into oblivion in the arms of his family.


	19. The Elrics Depart

_The chapter after this will be the last. I'll be happy to have finished it, but I'm going to miss writing it, too... _

_I own nothing._

**CHAPTER NINETEEN: The Elrics Depart**

Envy had calmed down enough to stop crying, and he pushed feebly at Ed and Al, giving them a pleading look. The brothers withdrew to give Envy time to himself.

Lust had briefly returned to inform them that Dante's body would be 'dealt with', Gluttony behind her, clinging at the skirt of her dress as if he were a small child. They couldn't help but be slightly wary around the ex-gang members, but the two left quickly after their announcement. The Elrics gathered their things together and made their way back into town.

There was no hotel, but the local pub had rooms for visitors and the occasional tourist, so they checked in there, once more able to use their real names. It was a small thing, but they couldn't help but feel that it was an accomplishment, a symbol of some kind. They were no longer running for their lives, they were free, and they felt buoyed by that for the rest of the day.

In the small ensuite bathroom they washed the dye out of their hair. Envy then had to re-dye his, as the green tint had disappeared, and he spiked his locks into his old style, keeping them off his face with a headband. Hoenheim left the dusting of stubble already growing on his chin alone, while Edward took the opportunity to oil his automail. It felt liberating to finally wash the last few nightmarish months away and just rest- no longer constantly looking over their shoulders for the next threat.

Hoenheim watched his boys contemplatively as they ate in the local cafe, and couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness. As had become apparent after the fight with Dante, they no longer needed him. He simply wasn't a part of their lives any more- and as much as that hurt, it was something he would have to live with.

He knew that Envy and Edward had accepted him, but had not forgiven him, and they likely never would. Even Alphonse acted distant- as if he were a well-liked, but not close, acquaintance rather than family. His sons had grown up, and his own choices had meant he wasn't there to watch them.

They hired a car, using Envy's license and credit card this time, since Hoenheim hadn't actually returned the last two cars he borrowed and likely wouldn't be allowed a third. They could hardly tell the companies why their cars had disappeared without bringing the police into it, and that was something they did not want to do, especially not considering the outcome of the last fight. It went unvoiced, but the fact remained that Envy had killed Dante, and while that was a good thing for them, in the eyes of the police, it was murder.

* * *

It was a long drive back to their old home, and as they came closer and the boys began to recognise landmarks the level of anticipation grew higher and higher. It seemed so long since they had been really, truly safe, and returning home would be the final mark for the boys, the final chapter in the book. It would be the final sign that they didn't have to worry about Dante any more, and that things would return to normal.

For Hoenheim, it was bittersweet. He knew that he would no longer be wanted when they arrived.

It was nearly night by the time they were in their home town. The oh-so-familiar streets were lit by streetlamps, and to the three boys, it felt almost surreal. Was it really over? Were they really, finally home?

As the car drew to a halt outside one particular small house, the boys looked at each other with trepidation.

They had no idea whether they could really return to normalcy after everything that had happened, but they were about to find out.


	20. Home

_This is it... the final chapter._

_I have to say, I have really enjoyed writing this fic, and I think (hope) I've done a pretty good job, too. I'm definitely going to miss not having this to work on, but there is always the next story, and I'm glad that this is finished, too. I hope you've all enjoyed this just as much as I have, because you're all amazing and I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun writing this if I hadn't been getting all those lovely reviews from you guys, so you all get a massive thank you from me. Extra-special thanks to ed's.angel, for encouraging me to get to work on something longer than one chapter for once. _

_Here's the final chapter. I hope you enjoy it!_

_I, as always, own nothing._

**CHAPTER TWENTY: Home**

Edward reached up and knocked on the door. He heard a muffled curse- _"Who's at the door at this time of night?"-_ and then the door was opened by a very grumpy-looking Winry Rockbell.

She opened her mouth, an irritated expression on her face, to yell at whoever had awoken her- and then stopped and stared.

"E-Edward? Is that you? And... Envy? Alphonse?"

Edward swallowed, and nodded.

Winry gave out a sudden, surprised cry, and pulled all three of them into her hug. Envy grimaced a little, but did not pull away from her.

"You're back?" she half-asked, half-begged. "You're safe now? You'll stay here?"

Edward swallowed. "Yeah, Winry. It's over. We can stay now."

She sniffled into Envy's shoulder.

"You mean it?"

"Of course we do, Winry," said Alphonse, doing his best to sound as bright and cheerful as he could. "Of course we do. We promise."

Winry sniffled again. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Al. Knowing these two, you'll be off again like a rocket." But she was smiling as she said it. She released them from her grasp, and looked them up and down.

"You look... different. Older."

"We are." said Edward quietly.

"Oh..."

Winry glanced down, and then seemed to notice something that she couldn't believe she'd missed.

"Edward..." she growled. "Why are you using your automail almost a _whole year_ before you should be? And why is it _damaged?_"

It was true that the automail was rather battered. Edward flinched, slightly startled by the sudden turn-around; talk about mood swings.

"Well, er, they kind of... shot the wheelchair engine and it kind of, ah, set on fire, and well, see, when-"

"You_ broke _mywheelchair?!_" _Winry was apoplectic. "You set it on _fire?!_"

"Well, sort of... only a bit..." said Edward, shifting uncomfortably.

"_ONLY A BIT?!"_ Winry held her wrench aloft threateningly. Edward quailed.

"I didn't mean to!"

"You think that makes it any better? Do you know how long I spent perfecting that wheelchair for you, _Edward?_ How long I _slaved_ over blueprints and plans? And then you go and get it _shot!_"

The wrench came crashing down on poor Edward's skull.

"Winry!" Alphonse interrupted. "Please, it really wasn't his fault!"

Winry retrieved her wrench and wagged it threateningly at Ed.

"Alright, but you'd better take good care of your automail from now on, Edward, or so help me, I'll-"

It was at this point the Pinako appeared, shushing Winry.

"Well, it's good to see you all have the same amount of limbs you started with." she said, looking them up and down. "Hello, Hoenheim. I take it you've been taking good care of these boys of yours, hm?"

Hoenheim smiled weakly. "I've certainly tried."

Pinako nodded approvingly. "They're fine boys. You should be proud."

Hoenheim nodded.

"I know."

* * *

Ed was sat on the table while Pinako studied his leg. It turned out that only the surface of the arm had been damaged, but the leg looked a little more dented and he'd overstrained the ports.

Envy had flopped onto the sofa, taking up nearly all the space available. Al just shook his head at his older brother's display and took a seat on a spare dining chair next to Winry.

They had done their best to explain what had happened to Winry, although they had left out a few key details- for example, the fact that Dante had been killed by Envy. The way they told it, it sounded like it had been an accident on the part of one of her gang members. Winry knew they were lying, but for once, she decided that they had a reason to hide whatever it was, and left them be.

"So what are you guys going to do now, then?"

It was Envy who answered her. "Well, we've still got our flat, haven't we? We'll go back there."

Winry frowned. "But that's barely big enough for three people, let alone four."

"Four?"

"Well, your dad..."

There was an awkward silence in the room. It was quite obvious that their father was not a factor in their equations.

Hoenheim cleared his throat. "Actually, I was thinking of buying a house near here. The boys can come and visit me if they wish."

Edward blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"Winry is right. There is not enough room for all of us there, and you seemed quite fine by yourselves before... And should any problems occur, I'll be right around the corner."

This announcement was met with mixed reactions. Edward looked surprised, Alphonse glad that his father wouldn't be completely excluded from his life, and Envy grateful that his old man wasn't planning to push himself on them if they didn't want him. Well, it wasn't that they didn't _want_ him, as such, but...

...He'd never really thought about what they were going to do once the problems with Dante were over.

Still, the idea Hoenheim proposed seemed like a suitable compromise. He wasn't abandoning them again, he was merely giving them space, and he appreciated that.

He didn't want the old man back in his life, not really, but, well, they'd spent the last few months looking out for each other, on the run, taking care of one another and working 

together. You couldn't do all that without bonding a little bit. It would be a fragile relationship, but it could work, if they let it. If they appreciated what he was doing for them, accepted the help he offered them- and maybe, if they ever did want a father again...

...Hoenheim did say he'd be buying a house. There'd be room for a couple more.

Envy smiled.

"You know what, old man? I think that could work." he held out his hand.

Hoenheim smiled, took the offered hand, and shook it. "It's settled, then. Can I expect to see you boys when I've settled in?"

Envy glanced at Ed and Al, who hesitated a little, and then nodded.

"See you then, Pops." Envy grinned. It was fragile, yes. But it would work.

They were free. The past few months had been difficult, yes, but they'd survived, hadn't they? And in the end, hadn't they gained everything they'd lost?

There was Edward, standing on his own two feet. Envy no longer felt abandoned or hateful- he'd settled his grudge once and for all. Alphonse had the family he'd always wanted, albeit not quite the one he'd expected. Hoenheim had his sons, and he would never have to worry about Dante again.

Dante had been trying to tear them apart- but in the end, she'd helped to put them back together.

Funny how it all works out, isn't it?


	21. AN

_Just so you know, if you didn't already, there is a sequel up! It's called 'Finding Tomorrow', so go have a look. And, because I didn't want to post something that was just an author's note, I give you the product of extreme boredom and a twisted sense of humour: a script format parody of Escaping Yesterday. You can blame Ed's Angel for this, she convinced me to post it.  
_

_Disclaimer: I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I have absolutely no excuse for the following, and I don't own the characters I am so cruel to. Read on at your own risk..._

* * *

_**Chapter one: The Three Elrics**_

_In which we establish that Ed is randomly missing two limbs_

**Envy:** I randomly live with my half-brothers. Normally, I would be going all homicidal right about now, but for some reason we have _brotherly love._ You readers won't know why until the megaflashback starts. Sucks to be you.

**Ed:** I'm missing two limbs and can't do anything for myself. I think the author hates me.

**Al:** I am cute. Look at me being cute. It's all I do in this chapter, so LOOK AT ME or I will cry and Ed will come and kill you with his awesome wheelchair ninja skills.

**Author:** Uh... well, um, let's end the chapter with some angst. You like angst, right? Right?

--

_**Chapter Two: Grave of the Mother**_

_In which we establish that poor Trisha never gets a break_

**Ed:** Oh, look, more angst. What a surprise.

**Envy:** I shall now get oddly sentimental and OOC.

**Al:** It's okay Envy, all the cool kids are doing it.

**Envy:** And now I'm being a protective older brother. Ed, did we swap personalities or something?

--

_**Chapter Three: First-born Son**_

_In which the megaflashback begins_

**Dante:** I'm a loopy obsessive bitch... nothing new, then.

**Hoho:** OMG WTF BABY?!

**Dante:** Oh yeah, he's yours. Now MARRY ME.

**Hoho:** NO WAY CRAZY LADY. Also, you'd make a sucky mum, so give the baby to me and GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE.

**Dante:** Damnit! Okay, sheesh, have the dumb brat. Now I will leave and PLOT YOUR DOOM.

**Hoho:** What was that?

**Dante:** Nothing.

--

_**Chapter Four: Love and Life**_

_In which the megaflashback continues_

**Trisha:** Whoo, I'm alive! ...But not for long.

**Hoho:** I have another son!

**Chibi Envy: **I HATE YOU ALL.

--

_**Chapter Five: An Envious Child**_

_In which there is yet more megaflashback_

**Envy:** I must now dye my hair green, rename myself, and dress like a girl, or I won't look like I do in the show. To justify this, I will now angst about jealousy. –angst-

**Trisha:** I'm still alive! Whoo!

**--**

_**Chapter Six: Loss**_

_In which we have EVEN MORE MEGAFLASHBACK_

**Trisha:** Let's go shopping!

**Envy, Al and Hoho:** Nah.

**Ed:** Yes!

**Envy:** Mama's boy.

**Ed:** Screw you. See ya!

**Trisha:** OH SHIT.

--

_**Chapter Seven: Not So Accidental**_

_In which there is... does this flashback EVER end?_

**Roy and Riza:** This is our only line, and we have to share it. The author hates us.

**Ed and Trisha:** You think she hates you? You got it _lucky!_

**Hoho:** You know, they have a point.

**Author:** Uh, guys? PLOT?

**Hoho:** Oh yeah, that. OMG, DANTE DID THIS?! Never saw THAT coming! I'm gonna run off on you now, kthnxbai.

--

_**Chapter Eight: Death**_

_In which there is lots of angst... also, more megaflashback_

**Trisha:** The author hates me.

**Author:** I don't really, it's for the plot! ...I killed Trisha. I feel horrible.

**Envy, Ed, and Al:** YOU SHOULD.

--

_**Chapter Nine: Obsession**_

_In which the megaflashback FINALLY ends_

**Dante:** I'm creepy and obsessive! Hoho, MARRY ME.

**Hoho:** What the hell? You tried to kill my wife and kid! No way!

**Dante:** -in a huff- So that the readers know who they are, I shall now rename my followers after the seven sins. Now, Lust, Gluttony, beat up the brats.

**Lust:** Yeah, yeah, whatever.

**Gluttony:** I'm hungry.

--

_**Chapter Ten: Dark Deeds**_

_In which gang members with guns threaten a bunch of kids_

**Lust:** Hi, I'm Lust, this is Gluttony, the crazy bitch who tells me what to do hates you, so I have to shoot you now.

**Envy, Ed, and Al:** WHAT THE FUCK!? –hide-

**Lust: **Mmhm, you do that. Bye.

**Gluttony:** I'm hungry.

**Cast:** WE KNOW.

--

_**Chapter Eleven: Return of the Father**_

_In which Hoho gets hated on_

**Author:** Hey, did anyone notice the really stupid and pointless LOTR joke? Return of the father, return of the king? Anyone?

**Cast:** SHUT UP.

**Author:** Oh, _fine._ Back to the plot!

**Hoho:** Hello, I'm a representative of _Neglectful father's Glazing Company,_ and I'm here to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity to double glaze all your windows for the reasonable price of _please don't kill me for running off on you!_

**Ed and Envy:** GO THE FUCK AWAY, OLD MAN! –beatdown-

**Al:** Am I the only one who's pleased to see him?

**Hoho:** Oof. Yes. Anyway, I've come to tell you that my crazy ex-girlfriend is responsible for your missing limbs-

**Ed:** I thought that was the author.

**Hoho:** Well, yeah, but for the sake of the plot, it's my crazy ex. Oh, and now she's trying to kill you, so I'm gonna live here, okay?

**Ed:** NO.

**Hoho:** YES.

**Ed:** NO.

**Author, Envy, Al, and Hoho:** YES.

**Ed: **...goddamnit.

--

_**Chapter Twelve: Prosthetics**_

_In which there is angst_

**Author:** Hey Ed, I realised it would be really hard to write all the cool stuff that happens next with you in a wheelchair, so A Convenient Plot Device- uh, I mean Winry- is going to give you automail now, okay?

**Ed:** Yeah, sure, whatever. I can angst now, right?

**Author:** Yup. The readers love that stuff.

--

_**Chapter Thirteen: Automail**_

_In which there is pain_

**Pinako:** Don't worry kid, this won't hurt... No, wait, I lie. Brace yourself, 'cause you'll be feelin' this in the morning!

**Ed:** Ow. GODDAMNIT THE AUTHOR HATES ME.

**Author: **Ed, I don't hate you... it's just tough love.

--

_**Chapter Fourteen: On the Run**_

_In which very little happens_

**Ed:** Even though I have automail now, I'm STILL in a wheelchair. And did I mention the pain? I don't care what she says about 'tough love', THE AUTHOR FUCKING HATES ME.

**Hoho:** Actually, you're her favourite character.

**Ed:** ...

**Hoho:** Yeah, sucks to be you, doesn't it? Gosh, I'm tired, but I can't fall asleep, I'm keeping watch for Dante and... –snore-

--

_**Chapter Fifteen: Narrow Escape**_

_In which there is fight scene_

**Ed: **I HATE YOU ALL.

**Al:** Brother?

**Hoho:** Don't worry, it's just that time of the month- uh, the automail.

**Dante:** I KILL j00 NOW.

**Hoho, Envy, Ed, and Al:** OH SHIT.

**Lust:** Die, wheelchair, die!

**Wheelchair:** -Explode-

**Ed:** OH SHIT. Hey, guys, how about we run away now?

**Hoho, Envy, and Al:** Sounds good to us. We weren't doing much anyway. -escape-

**Dante and Gang Members:** Damnit.

--

_**Chapter Sixteen: Disguises**_

_In which nothing much happens_

**Author:** Y'know, this chapter is really just an excuse for me to play dress up. You might as well skip it, really.

**Ed:** Yeah, but if you do that, you miss the part with Envy putting his hair in -snicker- a _braid._

**Envy:** I hate you all.

--

_**Chapter Seventeen: The Beginning of the End**_

_In which there is foreshadowing_

**Author:** This chapter only exists so that I can be evil and build up even more suspense for the fight scene.

**Cast:** Stop stalling and write the damn fight scene already!

**Author:** Oh, alright.

--

_**Chapter Eighteen: Envy's Mother**_

_In which the author FINALLY writes the bloody fight scene_

**Dante:** Why, hello there. This is where I make my evil villain speech about how it's all Hoho's fault for leaving me and-

**Envy:** SHUT THE FUCK UP.

**Dante:** OH SHIT.

**Ed:** -kicks Gluttony where the sun don't shine-

**Gluttony:** _ohgodthathurt._

**Ed:** -knocks Gluttony out- Hey, Lust, right? You should totally switch sides right about now.

**Lust:** Yeah, okay. Greed, you too.

**Greed:** Yeah, okay.

**Wrath:** DIE!

**Al:** OH SHIT.

**Ed:** Damn right, oh shit! GET THE FUCK OFF MY BROTHER!

**Envy:** I HATE YOU!

**Dante:** OH SHI-

**Envy:** ...Oh god. Did I really do that?

**Author: **Um. Oh dear. Uh... wow. That needs some angst.

--

_**Chapter Nineteen: The Elrics Depart**_

_In which the Elrics finally get a break_

**Author:** You guys can take five now.

**Cast:** Oh, thank god.

--

_**Chapter Twenty: Home**_

_In which Winry and Pinako finally get some more stage time_

**Winry:** Ed! Ohmigod you're home! I'm so happy I- waitaminute. What happened to your WHEELCHAIR? And your AUTOMAIL?

**Ed:** Uh-

**Winry:** EDWARD! -attacks with wrench-

**Ed:** GODDAMNIT, DO I _EVER_ GET A BREAK?

**Author:** No.

**Envy:** Anyway, now we'll have an awkward moment and then Hoho will fix it by moving out on his own.

**Ed:** Good riddance.

**Author:** Well, that's it. The end. I... I feel so sad...

**Cast:** We don't. THANK GOD IT' S OVER!

**Author:** Oi, watch it, you lot- there's a sequel, you know!

**Cast:** OH SHIT.

**Dante:** I'm suddenly really glad I'm dead.

* * *

_...Please don't kill me. I'm sorry!_

* * *


End file.
